Books

First edition, first printing, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "I am happy to have this copy of my book with David Tomlinson, with all best wishes, Anita Loos". This copy is additionally inscribed by the author's mother, Minerva Smith, on the same page, "for Charles and Eleanor, from Anita's mother". The author's satire of the Jazz Age was an instant best-seller and has since been recognized as a classic of the roaring twenties. The work was also popular among the modernists: it was hailed by Edith Wharton as "the Great American Novel", and was read by James Joyce when he was half-blind and working on the first draft of Finnegans Wake. The novel was adapted into a musical in 1949 and a subsequent film in 1953, starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe. This copy is in the second state, with "Divine" corrected to "Devine" on the contents page. Provenance: from the collection of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts (1941-2021), reflecting his fascination with the Jazz Age, with his posthumous bookplate. Octavo. Original red cloth, spine and front cover lettered in gilt. With dust jacket. Illustrations to the text by Ralph Barton. Hollywood Book Store ticket to rear pastedown. Spine gently cocked, extremities lightly rubbed and bumped, slight foxing to edges and outer leaves; unclipped jacket rubbed and marked, a few faint damp stains, extremities lightly chipped with some small loss to head of rear panel, small portion a head of spine panel discreetly reinforced with tissue: a very good copy in very good jacket.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a comic novel written by Anita Loos that portrays the roaring adventures of Lorelei Lee, the quintessential 'dumb blonde' with a clever streak.