Walt Disney: The Art of Animation; The story of the Disney Studio contribution to a new art

New York: Golden Press, Inc.. Very Good in Very Good dj. (c.1958). Reprint. Hardcover. [some wear to the book at the extremities (particularly the spine ends), otherwise a clean and attractive copy; the jacket is a bit edgeworn, with a few short closed edge-tears and some associated horizontal creasing at the bottom edge of the front panel]. (B&W and color artwork, photographs) Despite its self-promotional tone, this is an important work of animation history that benefitted from the full cooperation of the Disney Studio. "Before writing this book, [the author] roamed the Disney Studio, listening to the men who made the historic advances and innovations by which a cartoon moves from the storyboard to the screen. His researches touched upon the full history of animation, and his story includes an intimate view of the production of 'Sleeping Beauty,' in many ways the quintessence of the art of animation." SLEEPING BEAUTY was released in January 1959; the first edition of this book was issued under the Simon and Schuster imprint, presumably late in 1958 as a bit of advance publicity for the film. This date-unspecified reprint (thanks for nothing, Golden Press) appears to be identical, content-wise, with the first printing in every respect save one: the addition of an "epilogue" (pp. 178-179) about "the future of animation," which summarizes what the Disney company was up to in the early 1960s, and makes brief reference to ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS, THE SWORD IN THE STONE and THE JUNGLE BOOK. The last-named film was released in 1967, but this epilogue also makes reference to Walt Disney himself in the present (living) tense, so this printing must have gone to press sometime late in 1966, but before Walt's death in December. What's inexcusable, however, is that nobody took the trouble to update the "animation credits" section at the back of the book -- so the most recent credit listed for any of the documented individuals is still SLEEPING BEAUTY. Although not marked as such, this book was obtained from the estate of famed animator Art Babbit, who worked for Disney in the 1930s and 1940s, but was more or less persona non grata (at least to Walt himself) after having taken a firm anti-management stance during the animators' strike that roiled the studio in 1941. (Disney was subsequently forced to rehire him, although he departed for good in the late 1940s to join the newly-formed United Productions of America (UPA). The book includes his Disney animated feature film credits at the studio in the credits appendix, but per the index he is not referenced in the text of the book at all.) ****NOTE that additional postage charges will be assessed for international shipping of this heavy book; if this concerns you, please contact us for a shipping quote before placing your order.**** .