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Colorado by Louis Bromfield (FIRST EDITION), 1947 🌟🎬🏔️

Colorado by Louis Bromfield (FIRST EDITION), 1947 🌟🎬🏔️

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This is a rare First Edition, First Printing of Colorado by Louis Bromfield, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author.

The volume is classified as a top-shelf literary artifact featuring a powerful printed Hollywood Association Premium.

Its value is secured by its verifiable First Printing status in 1947 and its highly specific, printed dedication to the producer Joe Pasternak and the legendary actress Marlene Dietrich. This book is a unique intersection of American literature and classic cinema history.


2. About the Artwork/Book/Object 📖✍️✨ Colorado is a Western-themed novel that explores the rapid expansion and societal friction in a booming Colorado town. The novel is notable for its printed dedication, which describes the story as one "without social consciousness or self-consciousness".

The book is bound in a durable publisher's green cloth with the title stamped in gilt on the spine. The printed dedication page is the most compelling element of the interior, featuring an explicit reference to the Hollywood film Destry Rides Again and the song "See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have". This detail creates a verifiable link between the author and the cinematic golden age.


3. About the Artist/Author/Maker ✍️🏛️ Louis Bromfield (1896–1956) was a major American novelist, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1927 for Early Autumn. After spending time with the "Lost Generation," he returned to America and became a pioneer of the sustainable agriculture movement.

The book features a printed dedication to producer Joe Pasternak and actress Marlene Dietrich. Bromfield's association with these Hollywood figures highlights his wide social circle, which extended from literary Paris to the artistic elite of mid-century American cinema.


4. Historical/Political Era Context 🌍🕰️📜 This First Edition was published in 1947, placing it directly in the Post-War Boom period in the United States. This era saw a major economic expansion and a renewed cultural focus on regional American themes, including the West.

The dedication, which references the 1939 film Destry Rides Again, provides an explicit link to the period just before World War II and the height of the American studio system. The book functions as a tangible record of the interconnected cultural landscape where literature and Hollywood were deeply entwined in the mid-20th century.


5. The Ideal Collector 💡🧐🏛️ This volume is an essential acquisition for a curator of 20th-Century American First Editions with a specialization in Hollywood Cultural Association Copies.

It is ideally suited for a collector who seeks verifiable documentary artifacts linking major authors to cinematic figures like Marlene Dietrich. The book belongs in a collection that prioritizes the intersection of literary and cinematic history, offering a unique cultural narrative.


6. Value & Rarity 💎✨🏛️ This book is a First Edition, First Printing, a key bibliographical milestone. The volume is approximately 78 years old.

Its scarcity is moderate as a late-career work. However, the rarity is significantly elevated by the explicit, non-replicable printed dedication to Marlene Dietrich and Joe Pasternak. This Association Premium provides a powerful cultural narrative, justifying its investment-grade status over a standard First Edition. The handwritten dealer marks also provide a traceable retail history.


7. Condition 🔎📚✨ The physical condition has been assessed directly from the provided high-resolution photography. The book is deemed to be in Very Good Antique Condition.

  • Binding: Bound in durable publisher's green cloth with title stamped in gilt on the spine.

  • Text Block: The text block is secure and clean, with light toning appropriate for its age.

  • Dedication: The unique, full-page printed dedication to Joe Pasternak and Marlene Dietrich is clear and intact.

  • Wear: The cloth binding shows rubbing and light fraying at the spine ends and corners, consistent with a book of this age without a dust jacket.

  • Internal Marks: Contains handwritten pencil inventory codes and an old retail price on the front free endpaper.


8. Fun Facts & Unique Features 🤓📜🤩

  • The Dietrich Song: Marlene Dietrich's song "See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have" from Destry Rides Again is one of her most famous numbers, and Bromfield’s reference directly ties the novel to its cultural moment.

  • The Pulitzer Connection: Bromfield won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1927, making this a work from a verifiable, award-winning American author

  • Printed Association: The detailed printed dedication is a significant piece of literary documentation that links the author's personal life and friendships to his published work.


9. Supporting Information 🏷️📦💰

  • Object Type: First Edition Novel (Literary Association Copy)

  • Author: Louis Bromfield

  • Title: Colorado

  • Year/Period: 1947 (Copyright and Publication)

  • Publisher: Harper & Brothers

  • Place of Origin: New York and London

  • Format/Binding: Publisher’s Green Cloth

  • Edition/Rarity: First Edition, First Printing

  • Transcription of Retail Marks (FFEP): (50) 4402 3.00

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