WAY DOWN SOUTH, SIGNED LIMITED FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR CLARENCE MUSE, ONE OF THE FIRST BLACK HOLLYWOOD STARS, FROM THE LIBRARY OF RENOWNED FILM DIRECTOR GEORGE CUKOR

MUSE, Clarence and ARLEN, David. Way Down South. Hollywood: David Graham Fischer, (1932). Tall octavo (8 by 10-1/2 inches), original pictorial black and orange paper boards, original cloth tie. $2200.

Signed limited first edition, number 631 of 1000 copies signed by Black actor Clarence Muse, an especially memorable association copy additionally inscribed by him on the limitation page, "Sincerely your, Clarence Muse," from the library of famed film director George Cukor with his bookplate, coauthored by Muse and David Arlen, featuring dramatic woodcut-engraved illustrations by artist Blanding Sloan, in original pictorial boards.

Clarence Muse was an actor, composer and screenwriter who is commonly credited with being the first African-American leading man, in Hearts in Dixie in 1929. During his prolific career he acted in well over 100 movies. Way Down South, a loosely structured narrative centering on the black vaudeville circuit of the early 20th century and written by Muse with his publicist David Arlen, has the same name as the 1939 movie that Muse wrote the screenplay for with Langston Hughes, but it shares little else with the movie, which is set in antebellum Louisiana. With woodcut-illustrated color boards, 17 full-page woodcut-engraved and numerous in-text illustrations from original "wood cut blocks" by artist Blanding Sloan. Blockson 4313. This memorable association copy contains the distinctive bookplate of Oscar-winning film director George Cukor, famed for films such as Philadelphia Story (1940), A Star is Born (1954) and My Fair Lady (1964). Cukor, a well-known bibliophile and art collector, commissioned artist Paul Landacre to create this image for his bookplate, which shows the director's beautiful Beverly Hills home.

Interior fine, mild wear and toning to boards.