Marilyn [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Andre de Dienes (Author), Steve Crist (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2002

A most rare and unbelievable treasure

After sitting in storage since his death in 1985, André de Dienes's complete Marilyn archives have finally been gathered together for this exclusive publication!

Photographer André de Dienes's life was changed forever one day in 1945 when he met an aspiring young model named Norma Jeane Baker. They immediately took off on the road together so that André could photograph her in natural settings across the West; during their travels, they fell in love and were briefly engaged. After their romance ended, they remained friends and de Dienes continued to photograph her. His unique, loving photographs of Norma Jeane helped to launch her model career and, a few years later, the film career that was to make her a legend. His entire relationship with the star, including many private moments never before revealed, is detailed in de Dienes's memoirs, which were written shortly before his death in 1985. Recently uncovered and published here for the first time, these unknown memoirs tell a bittersweet story of love and friendship, tracing the evolution of a sensitive, ambitious girl into a deeply troubled megastar. From their trip to see Norma Jeane's mother in an Oregon mental hospital to Marilyn's visit to his home the year before her death, de Dienes recounts all of the emotional moments they shared. This special edition, combining de Dienes's memoirs and photographs, is at once a touching autobiography and an exclusive personal exploration into the psychology, history, and iconography of Marilyn Monroe.

Worldwide limited edition of 20,000 individually numbered copies

Tucked into the enlarged facsimile of de Dienes's Kodak film box are:

an extra-large format, 240-page hardcover book featuring a vast selection of sumptuous photographs and excerpts from de Dienes's memoirs, printed on 150g matte stock

a 608 page softcover facsimile of de Dienes's complete Marilyn memoirs and his Marilyn composite book (which includes the complete set of nearly 1000 Marilyn photos in contactsized prints)

a brochure containing all 24 of Marilyn's magazine covers shot by de Dienes

With some notable exceptions, the vast majority of these images–especially those in color–have never been seen before!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 500 pages
• Publisher: Taschen; First Edition edition (September 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3822811998
• ISBN-13: 978-3822811993
• Product Dimensions: 22.1 x 16.9 x 4.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,618,075 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marilyn boxed., May 5, 2003

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marilyn (Hardcover)

I've got copy 4066 of this sumptuous (and reassuringly?) expensive package and I thought this review should really detail what you'll get for your money.

ONE: An oversize Kodak color film box, nineteen inches high by sixteen wide and three deep, this is a big facsimile of the box that De Dienes kept some of his Marilyn prints in. The package weighs twelve pounds and will hardly fit any bookcase. The inside has recesses for the two books and one booklet. Black silk tape allows for easy access of the contents.

TWO: A large, beautifully designed and printed, 240 page book of Marilyn photos printed on thick paper. Although the printing screen is not the highest (150 dpi) the photos leap off the page, especially the full-page color ones. Many of these photos seem to be very private shots of Marilyn that De Dienes took during her career (a few show her with other people, a hairdresser and bookseller). Several at the back of the book show Marilyn's face montaged into clouds or surrounded by celestial bodies. Between the photos, printed in silver ink and in a large typewriter font, there are excepts from De Dienes memoirs. Also printed in silver are smaller photos with his hand-written captions.

THREE: A booklet with twenty-four, one to a page, magazine covers featuring De Dienes photos of Marilyn. Seventeen of them are European titles. Predictably, great photos are weakened by logos, cover lines and generally poor cropping. I thought this booklet was rather disappointing in its production.

FOUR: The 608 page facsimile of De Dienes manuscript and composite book. I think this is the most fascinating item in the box because of the production problems. The original pages were typed on one side of a sheet of ordinary paper and this facsimile is on similar weight stock so that the back of each page has some text showing through, as the original (There is a production problem here though, the paper rightly has text show-through but the photos do as well, on the original paper only the white back of the photo would have been visible). Although the manuscript was in black and white it has been printed in four colors to create the aged paper look and the few handwritten numbers in green and red that De Dienes wrote on the photos. You can see all of his corrections and deletions to the manuscript and read the comments he wrote about the various contact prints of Marilyn and other printed ephemera he stuck on back of each page.

The original composite section has a hundred pages (it becomes two-hundred pages in this facsimile) of cut-out contact prints which De Dienes stuck on the typewriter paper, again they are reproduced in four-color black because of the occasional handwritten colored numbers, even the image of the punched file holes on each page is reproduced. Hundreds of these contacts show how he photographed Marilyn and you can see how dozens of shots were taken of which only one or two were probably published. Most of these images have never been seen before and certainly never in the form that they are presented here.

Overall I think the Marilyn Box is an amazing production package. A world famous visual icon is presented in a unique way.

*** FOR A LOOK INSIDE click customer images under the contents photo.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for a sturdy coffee table, October 22, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Marilyn (Hardcover)

For the Marilyn fan, this is a great book. The photographs reproduced in the large book are magnificent. The large book is difficult to read with silver ink on white paper, but it is cleaned up excerpts from the smaller facsimile typed recollections of De Dienes. It is heavy, thus a sturdy coffee table is required.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful, sumptuous package, July 14, 2003

By 

Elizabeth Roberts-Zibbel (bowling green ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marilyn (Hardcover)

When I opened this box on Christmas morning, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world. A recent convert to Marilyn-ism, this was one of the first books about her I owned, and I'm so glad, because I think it's important to know Norma Jeane before you know Marilyn. These huge, glorious photographs taken by Andre de Dienes capture her innocence and natural beauty at a time when she was an unknown model. De Dienes' memoirs are touching and reveal Norma Jeane as she was to him, a man who fell in love with her, as so many would in the future. After paging through these books, you are left to feel as though Norma Jeane Dougherty would never look quite as beautiful again (and of course she would, but not in the same way). Revealing Marilyn Monroe at her earliest beginnings, this limited edition package is definitely worth the money.