Lot 78: William Saroyan dramatic signed photograph of the playwright at work

SAROYAN, WILLIAM. (1908-1981). American writer and playwright; author of The Time of Your Life for which he was awarded the 1940 Pulitzer Prize (which he rejected). SP. (“Bill Saroyan”). 1p. Small 4to. New York, September 1953. Inscribed to the president of Columbia Records, GODDARD LIEBERSON (1911-1977), best remembered for introducing the LP or long-playing microgroove record. A dramatically lit black-and-white photograph by American photojournalist Dan Weiner of a seated Saroyan at work on his typewriter with a cigarette in his mouth, a hat placed rakishly on his head, and a piano in the background. ----- “For Goddard Lieberson – Music and words, or talk (from me, that is) from the writer by the sea & I can’t figure it out, either – thanks Bill Saroyan Sept 1953 [illegible]” ----- In 1928, following the publication of his first article by Detroit’s Boulevardier, Saroyan left his native Fresno, California to seek his fortune in New York. Returning home the following year, he published poems and his first short story, The Broken Wheel, reprinted, under the pseudonym Sirak Goyan, in Edward J. O’Brien’s 1934 Best Short Stories. That same year, the appearance of The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze established Saroyan’s reputation as one of the finest short-story writers of his generation. He later turned to playwriting and screenwriting, and wrote several volumes of autobiography and autobiographical fiction. Weiner, a photographer for Fortune magazine, specialized in photographs of people at work, of which ours is a fine, well composed, example. Inscription is unevenly written over a light part of the image. Archivally matted and fine. Especially uncommon in this format. ***Please note that your bid will not be activated on eBay.com until the start of the live auction at 12 noon EST on Friday, May 15. Please check back at that time to see if you've been outbid***.