Offered for sale is a simply INCREDIBLE piece of Hollywood history: a vintage 1905 song book that was personally owned, used, notated, and twice signed by "The Queen of Technicolor", Maureen O'Hara, Irish-born star of films such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), How Green Was My Valley (1941), The Black Swan (1942), The Spanish Main (1945), Sinbad the Sailor (1947), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Comanche Territory (1950), Rio Grande (1950), The Quiet Man (1952), The Wings of Eagles (1957), McLintock! (1963) and Big Jake (1971).
The book is titled, "Songs and Airs, George Frideric Handel, edited by Ebenezer Prout. Volume I: For High Voice", part of the Musician's Library series from Oliver Ditson Company.
Signed twice by O'Hara: on the first interior page, adding "Nov '39", and on the back cover. The date would mean she used this around age 18/19, an extremely early time in her career. She appeared in two films in 1939: her first major film role, Alfred Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn, and a turn as Esmerelda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
O'Hara would go on to have a career regarded by The Irish Times in June 2020 as the #1 Greatest Irish Actor of All Time, besting luminaries such as Daniel Day-Lewis, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole, and Liam Neeson.
The book itself shows heavy usage and wear. The binding is intact, but hanging by a thread. There are marks and notations on no less than seven of the songs. This was definitely used by someone who was practicing her craft!
How do you price a one-of-a-kind artifact such as this? Her screen-worn items routinely run into the thousands, but this is a little different. This is a tool she used to become the performer she ultimately became. Imagine the price of a bat Babe Ruth used early in his career. Staggering, right? Well what we have here is an item used by one of the most famous actresses of all time, one who is still recognized worldwide in 2020 for her accomplishments from the prior century. And to top it off, the book itself is 115 years old. The importance of this piece cannot be understated!
This item will come with our full letter of authenticity and lifetime guarantee. The previous owner had acquired it through the famous 2016 Bonham's auction of O'Hara's estate.