Walt Disney's Living Desert [Inscribed by Walt Disney]

(Disney, Walt) WALT DISNEY'S LIVING DESERT [INSCRIBED BY WALT DISNEY]. New York: Simon and Schuster, circa 1954. FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. 4to 11-5/8" x 9-1/4". White cloth backed glazed color pictorial paper covered boards with titles stamped in gilt to spine in lovely unworn condition for what is a magnificent copy of the book. 73,[3] pp. Originally published as "Desert Vivant. Paris: Societe Francaise du Livre, 1954." This title is one of the titles in Disney's True-Life Adventures series of books that were published in conjunction with Disney's True-Life Adventures series of documentary films; fourteen of these films were produced between 1948 and 1960. The film that was the basis of the book, The Living Desert, won the 1953 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature; each page is illustrated with one or more beautiful tipped in photographic plates.

The book is INSCRIBED BY WALT DISNEY to his friends David and Caroline Wallerstein on half-title page: "To David and Caroline, with all best, Walt Disney". David Wallerstein had a 40-year career in the movie theater business and Disney regularly flew him to Hollywood to preview his films; Disney had said Wallerstein "could smell a hit or a flop through a six-foot wall", such was his gut instinct. Disney used this "gut instinct" as an aid in the production and marketing of his films.

The condition of the book, the inscription and the signature are FINE, SCARCE Disney title made exceptional by the signed inscription from Walt Disney to one of his personal friends and longtime business confidant. # 000800