Some more about Diary of a Lost Girl

As the few readers of this blog know, I recently completed a long thought about project, the republication of Margarete Böhme's 1905 novel, Tagebuch einer Verlorenen, or The Diary of a Lost Girl. I first read the book a few years back, after having tracked down and purchasing for $80.00 a vintage hardback copy of the 1908 American edition.

I also collected photoplay editions, the movie tie-in books from the silent and early sound era. And somewhere along the line, it occurred to me to try and create a photoplay edition of Böhme's book. I ended up not doing that - but instead created an illustrated edition of the controversial and bestselling book. My The Diary of a Lost Girl (Louise Brooks edition) contains more than 3 dozen illustrations. Perhaps about half feature Brooks, while the other half relate to Böhme's best known book.

After giving it a lot of thought, I decided I really wanted to emphasize Böhme and her book. Why? Because, the more I looked into things and the more research I did, the more fascinated I became with this forgotten author, her little known book, and its relation to the 1929 G.W. Pabst film. I think its story is really interesting. My The Diary of a Lost Girl (Louise Brooks edition) contains a 20 page introduction, along with nearly as many pages of related material.

I hope readers will think this project is worthwhile as well. I've created a few informational pages at http://www.pandorasbox.com/diary.html and http://www.pandorasbox.com/diary-more.html Or, if you're interested, a bit more info and sample pages can be found at http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-diary-of-a-lost-girl-%28louise-brooks-edition%29/11256621

The Diary of a Lost Girl (Louise Brooks edition) is a 336-page softcover book priced at $24.95. It is pictured above. I am also creating a limited edition which will be available later in the summer. The limited edition will be hardback with a different dust-jacket and an accompanying free CD-Rom featuring all kinds of bonus material. (It's stuff I just couldn't fit into the book for one reason or another.) The limited edition will also be autographed by me. It is pictured at left.

I have also set up a couple of events for the book. The first is a booksigning on July 17th at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. The signing follows a screening of the 1929 G.W. Pabst film. Here is the Facebook page for the signing, and its listing on the San Francisco Chronicle website. A second event, which will include a presentation and screening, will take place on Louise Brooks' birthday, November 14th, in the Koret Auditorium at the San Francisco Public Library. A third event, at a San Francisco Bay Area bookstore, is in the works.

At each of these events, I will be giving away a free mini-pinback button  with ever purchase of the book featuring either an vintage depiction of Thymian, or an image of Louise Brooks at Thymain. The image of Thymian (pictured at right) is taken from the 1908 American edition which I bought some years back.