Disney, Walt (1950s) ‘Walt Disney’s Beaver Valley’, US signed and inscribed first edition

‘Walt Disney’s Beaver Valley‘, US first edition. Signed and inscribed by Walt Disney: “To David and Caroline, all best wishes, Walt Disney”. Inscribed to David and Caroline Wallerstein, Disney’s lifelong friends who were often flown in to preview Walt Disney’s most recent productions. David Wallerstein was a theatre executive and also sat on the McDonald’s Corp board of directors. A wonderful association.

Condition of the book: near fine with soms shelf wear as to be expected. All tipped in plates are present as called for. The rear board has a vertical crease in the laminate as shown. It is nice to have Walt Disney’s full signature as he often signed to friends with ‘Walt’ only.

‘Walt Disney’s In Beaver Valley’ (1950) received an Academy Award (Oscar) for best short documentary in 1951. It was film two in the True-Life Adventures series which spanned fourteen films.

Walt Disney needs no introduction. The legendary animation film producer revolutionised the genre with the creation of Mickey Mouse and ‘Steamboat Willie’ (1928) and the the usage of synchronised sound. Not even ten years later Disney produced the seminal ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves’ (1937), a monumental production which stunned the world. Disney continued to reinvest his profits into more animated movies which have become milestones of the genre raising the bar what animation can achieve: ‘Pinocchio’ (1940), ‘Fantasia’ (1940), ‘Dumbo’ (1941) ‘Bambi’ (1942). Spiralling cost, and the interruption of WWII amongst other reasons have brought the Disney Studios into difficult financial waters. Thus Disney started to diversify and launched a successful nature ducumentation series, know as the True-Life Adventures series. The first of those was ‘Seal Island‘ (1948) (only costing around USD 100,000 instead of millions needed for the animated films) followed by ‘In Beaver Valley‘ (1950). Well known films from the series include ‘The Living Desert‘, ‘The African Lion‘, or ‘Bear Country’. The final film in the series was Jungle Cat (1960). All of the films are wonderful and were accompanied by the books.

A great genuinely signed Walt Disney item with excellent provenance and testimony to Disney’s development as a producer!