This is my 600th post and for the milestone posts I like to feature a special item. This is book that was personally owned by Valentino. The book is titled "The Flame of Life," by D'Annunzio. A few amazing things about the book. The book was most likely owned by Valentino before he became a big star. The year 1918 is wrote inside the book, which is most likely around the time he owned the book. On the inside cover of the book, Valentino signed his name, with the spelling Rodolph in a red pen of some sorts. Since he owned this before he amassed his fortune there is no Valentino bookplate in this book, instead it contains the book plate of Erich Von Stroheim! Stroheim, the silent movie director and later actor in various films including one of my favorite films of all time, Sunset Boulevard where he played Max the butler. I am unsure if he owned the book before Valentino or after, my best guess is after. There are also a couple of phone numbers wrote on the first page, one name is Priscilla, the other is Holly. Could this be silent movie actress Priscilla Dean, who knows?
If that is not enough,the book has a few pages where Valentino doodled and drew pictures. He practiced his monogram with RV and RG on one page, on another he drew a car, an engine, and what appears to be a hood of a car or a shield. Even though the condition of this book is on the rough side, it is truly a one of a kind item that not only features his autograph, but his drawings and his monograms and Erich Von Stroheim's bookplate. This is a truly fantastic piece any collector would love to own!
Goodness. Congrats on the 600th post! This is fabulos. A book owned by Rudy. A peek into his consciousness. A relic gripped by Rudy's hand.
ReplyDeleteAmazing!!! That is now officially my favorite Rudy item ever! :) Congratulations on your 600th post!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post Brad!
ReplyDeleteThank you all! Items such as this are fantastic, knowing that Valentino may have carried this around town in the early days of Hollywood!
ReplyDeleteA collector's dream. As you say, it doesn't get much better. It looks to me like that second phone number is an abbreviation of "Hollywood". Holly. 3767?
ReplyDeleteI bought the book just so I can read it...Is there a list of other books he owned? Thank you....
ReplyDeleteChris, The most complete list of books he owned is in the Estate Auction Catalog. The books listed in there are from his personal library and have Valentino's bookplate in the front of each book. The one I posted here does not have the bookplate, because he owned the book before his stardom.
ReplyDeleteWow I did not think about that...thank you Brad....
ReplyDeleteI have a set of books owned by Valentino. "The Roman Empresses", 2 vol. set, with the bookplate! Denise
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the last picture here shows a design of Cobras on the car..Which I noticed on a picture of one of Rudolphs cars that has a design like this one with a Cobra on the car.
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