Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller

Silent FIlm Actress and Director Fern Andra [Photo-Postcard Album with 27 IMAGES]

n/a

Berlin: Verlag Ross/Film-Sterne, ca. 1920s. Softcover. Oblong octavo. 8x11". String-tied brown paper wrappers with decorative black silhouette motif on the front cover. This photo-album contains 27 photo-postcards of American actress and filmmaker Fern Andra (1893-1974), who was among the leading silent film stars in Germany during the 1910s and 20s. Andra was a pioneering female filmmaker and entrepreneur in that by 1915 (at the age of 21) she was writing, directing, producing and staring in films from her own production company "Fern Andra-Film". These days she is perhaps best known for having starred in Robert Wiene's 1920 horror film "Genuine: The Tragedy of a Vampire", considered a follow-up to his groundbreaking "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari". By 1928 she moved to the UK and then back to the United States. By 1930 she had retired from acting and filmmaking.

Most of the cards are printed in sepia-toned photogravure, and the last two are actual silver gelatin photographic prints. The cards were produced by Verlag Ross and Film-Sterne (the same company under a previous name), and have identification numbers printed in the lower left corner. 21 of the cards bare the additional stamp of "Atelier Fern Andra", in the bottom right corner of the images, which seem to indicate that they were self-produced photo shoots by Andra's own business. 10 images are depict Andra in posed relaxed scenes at home, 7 of those include a caption stating "in ihrem heim" (in her home). 3 images show her in interestingly composed mirror shots sitting on the ground next to a sofa. One image is a still from her 1916 film "Die Seele einer Frau" (The Soul of a Woman).

Album with light rubbing and/or creasing to extremities. A small stain in the upper left corner of the front cover. Light stains along the top margin of some of the initial leaves. All images clean and bright. Wrappers in very good, interior in very good-, photographs in very good+ to near fine condition overall. Quite scarce. Album protected by modern mylar. vg- to near fine. Item #45619

Price: $1,250.00