Anne of Green Gables by MONTGOMERY, L. M - 1920

Boston: The Page Company, 1920. 49th Impression, April 1920. 349th thousand. Hardcover. Good. viii, [2], 429 p. + 8 p. of ads. 20 cm. 24 b&w photographic plates from the lost 1919 film starring Mary Miles Minter. Cloth with pasted-on illustration. Hinges tender and front is separating a little front text block at bottom. Some edge wear and soiling. Tear at top of p. 199. Occasional thumbing and soiling to pages.

This film edition is extremely rare. Stills from the 1919 film Anne of Green Gables are well-placed throughout the text in association with events in the book. The silent film version differs immensely from the original novel: it features a shotgun-wielding Anne, a skunk (an animal not found in P.E.I.), and changes to the cause of Matthew's death. Nevertheless, the film, Minter's first for director W. D. Taylor, met with great success. All prints of the film were destroyed in the aftermath, making "Anne of Green Gables" one of Hollywood's famous lost films. It was Minter's self-declared favourite role, adapted by famous female screenwriter Frances Marion. It was shot in Dedham, Massachusetts, with Green Gables represented by the Fairbanks House. Montgomery was not a fan of the film, despite its excellent reception.