I have been behind on this blog and the Marilyn Monroe reading list over the past few weeks (so I have some catching up to do!). The reason for this is that I was interviewing for jobs, and I am happy to report that I will be at an academic post next year beginning this fall. As such, I decided to take a look at my wardrobe, and oh dear–it is a mess! Between the non-sensical quarantine purchases, the overabundance of leggings and sweatpants, and the generally poor condition of the (now slightly tight) work clothes purchased in 2019 and earlier, I realize that this summer I will need to do a ma ..read more

Carly Maris’ copy The Short Reign of Pippin IV by John Steinbeck was April’s book selection. Marilyn Monroe’s copy of the book was a first edition, published in 1957, which was sold at auction in 1999 as part of a lot for $2990.00. The satirical novel tells the story of a Frenchman named Pippin, living in contemporary Paris with his wife and daughter, who spends his time as an amateur astronomer. After a series of delegations, the French government decides to restore the monarchy, and thanks to his ancestry (traced back to Charlemagne) Pippin is crowned Pippin IV. The narrative goes through hi ..read more

Taking care of vintage books is relatively easy, but requires diligence. I periodically go through my recreation of Marilyn Monroe’s library to make sure that there are no pests or mold breakouts, and I have had good luck. Until now. I recently found that my copy of The War Lover by John Hersey had a small colony of mold growing inside, and it’s a type of mold I haven’t encountered. The book is a former library book and the mold is growing where there used to be tape on the inside cover. This appeared in the last year, and while I have worked to get rid of mold in other vintage books, I think ..read more

What was Marilyn Monroe’s favorite music? We know she loved jazz. Her own music was highly inspired by jazz of the era, and she was a huge fan of Ella Fitzgerald, which we know from this famous story of Marilyn boosting Ella Fitzgerald’s career. But besides jazz, what did she listen to? Several weeks ago, I connected with fellow Marilyn Monroe admirer and collector Mark Carvell. Mark owns a record from Marilyn Monroe’s collection, and was kind enough to share photographs of it (shown below!). The record, Goin’ Down The Road… by Clarence Cooper, was auctioned by Christie’s in 1999 as ..read more

While my primary research interests revolve around Marilyn Monroe’s book collection, I also enjoy discovering books owned and written by other famous and interesting people from history. Eartha Kitt, for instance, wrote several autobiographies (see my review of one of her autobiographies here). Recently, I was looking for books Judy Garland owned. While I did not (yet) find any, I learned that Judy Garland wrote a book of poetry, titled Thoughts and Poems, published circa 1939-1940 (The Wizard of Oz came out in 1939). The book was only ten pages long, and given to a select number of friends. B ..read more

Marilyn Monroe owned several first edition John Steinbeck novels. For April, Patreon members of The Vintage Book Club voted to read Steinbeck’s The Short Reign of Pippin IV, a satirical work about a man who travels back in time to the French Revolution with his daughter. The book is available to read online for here, and at the end of the month I will do a review. Today, I wanted to share three first edition books written by Steinbeck that Marilyn Monroe owned. What was it about this author that she liked? And what drew her to these particular novels? These are questions I will be thinking abo ..read more

This month, The Vintage Book Club voted to read This Demi-Paradise, a Westchester Diary written by Margaret Halsey. The book is written in the form of daily diary entries of a middle-class suburban woman named Helen Fitzgibbons. Helen’s wry sense of humor highlights many of the hypocrisies of white, middle-class suburbia, in topics ranging from religion to race to communism. Much of the humor was based on early 1960’s events, meaning that I don’t believe it wholly translates well to 2021 audiences. Nevertheless, some of the themes, I think, a modern-day reader might find interesting and releva ..read more

Did Marilyn Monroe want to perform as Medea, the character from Ancient Greek tragedy who murdered her children? Marilyn Monroe owned the same editions of Mischief and Medea as shown here, from Carly Maris’ personal collection. It’s certainly possible. She owned a copy of the play Medea as rewritten by poet Robinson Jeffers. In the play, Medea is married to the Greek hero Jason, who leaves her for a younger woman named Glauce. In doing so, he effectively abandons Medea and their children. Medea exacts her revenge upon Jason, first by murdering Glauce, then by murdering their children. Jeffers ..read more

Marilyn Monroe owned over 400 books in her lifetime, and a large number of them were first editions. I have been able to add several to my recreation of her collection (including Hawaii and Invisible Man noted below). As I work my way through the books she owned to make the spreadsheet of all of her books, I have found eleven first editions (and I am only about a fourth of the way through her collection). Here are five: Once There Was a War by John Steinbeck Image of Marilyn Monroe’s copy by Christie’s Auction house 2. Hawaii by James Michener Image from Wikipedia 3. Ulysses by James Joyce ..read more

As you may know, I am putting together a recreation of Marilyn Monroe’s book collection–adding the same editions of books she owned to my collection. The list of books she owned can be found in various places online–in fact, when I began this project several years ago, I would use these publicly available lists. Eventually, I invested in the Christie’s Auction catalogue from 1999, which includes over 400 of Marilyn Monroe’s books. In purchasing this book I discovered that some of my editions were wrong–sometimes the year was wrong, sometimes the cover (paperback or hard)–which meant that in or ..read more