AN EARLY “NOVELIZATION”: FIRST ENGLISH EDITION OF THE JAZZ SINGER

DE HAAS, Arline. The Jazz Singer: A Story of Pathos and Laughter. From the Play by Samson Raphaelson. Illustrated with Scenes from the Photoplay. London: Readers Library, [1927]. 12mo, original maroon cloth gilt, original dust jacket. $700.

First English edition, published the same year as the American, with eight photographs from the Warner Brothers production starring Al Jolson.

Raphaelson’s Broadway stage play (starring George Jessel) was based on his story “The Day of Atonement,” which appeared in the January 1922 issue of Everybody's Magazine and was first published in book form in 1925. In October 1927, Warner Brothers released a film version with Al Jolson in the leading role—the first feature-length Hollywood “talkie” film in which spoken dialogue became part of the dramatic action. In it, Jolson ad-libbed the famous line, “You ain't heard nothin’ yet!” “The Reader’s Library produced a long series of ‘books of the film’ with attractive, brightly-colored dust wrappers throughout the 1920s and 1930s” (Exeter University).

Text uniformly embrowned, scattered foxing to edges. Light edge-wear to boards, a few small chips to dust jacket. An extremely good copy.