Devika Rani :: rare vintage collectibles

Devika Rani was one of the early superstars of Indian cinema. Widely acknowledged as the First Lady of Indian CinemaDevika Rani studied film-making at the UFA Studios in Berlin along with her first-husband Himanshu Rai, who went on to establish the Bombay Talkies film studio in 1934. Some of the most successful blockbusters of the 1930s were produced by Bombay Talkies, and several great actors such as Ashok Kumar marked their debut in Bombay Talkies films.

We are now pleased to offer three extremely rare song-synopsis booklets of the 1930s featuring Devika Rani during the golden era of Bombay Talkies. These three films were directed by the German filmmaker Franz Osten. These vintage song-synopsis booklets include the complete cast & crew details, the story of the film as well as the lyrics of all the songs along with the classical raga on which they are based. These song-synopsis booklets are multilingual i.e. with text in English, Hindi, Gujarati & Urdu. In two of these films, Devika Rani was paired opposite Ashok Kumar; these booklets feature several rare vintage photographs of both these actors amongst many others.

We are also pleased to offer three high-quality original prints of Devika Rani's portraits by the great Russian artist Svetoslav Roerich, her second husband. These were published to mark the birth centenary of the artist in 2004 and are highly collectible. The package of these three beautiful portrait prints also includes a Special Cover on Bombay Talkies issued by the Indian Postage Department.

Several images of these precious rarities are attached herewith for the perusal of those interested.

1] JEEVAN PRABHAT — original vintage song-synopsis booklet
Year of release1937
DirectorFranz Osten
Format: Softcover
Size23.5 cm x 17.6 cm
Text in: English, Hindi, Gujarati & Urdu
Pages24 pages. Richly illustrated with several rare b&w photographs of Devika Rani et al.
ConditionExcellent. Small minor creases on the covers. Natural yellowing and slight negligible shelf-wear on the corners/edges of some pages owing to age. All the pages are fully intact, clean & unmarked.

2] NIRMALA — original vintage song-synopsis booklet
Year of release1938
DirectorFranz Osten
Format: Softcover
Size23.6 cm x 17.6 cm
Text in: English, Hindi, Gujarati & Urdu
Pages24 pages. Richly illustrated with several rare b&w photographs of Devika RaniAshok Kumar et al.
ConditionExcellent. Small minor creases on the covers. Natural yellowing and slight negligible shelf-wear on the corners/edges of some pages owing to age. All the pages are fully intact, clean & unmarked.

3] VACHAN — original vintage song-synopsis booklet
Year of release1938
DirectorFranz Osten
Format: Softcover
Size: 23.6 cm x 17.8 cm
Text in: English, Hindi, Gujarati & Urdu
Pages: 18 pages. Richly illustrated with several rare b&w photographs of Devika RaniAshok Kumar et al.
ConditionExcellent. Small minor creases on the covers. Natural yellowing and slight negligible shelf-wear on the corners/edges of some pages owing to age. All the pages are fully intact, clean & unmarked.

RemarksThese vintage original booklets of the 1930s are extremely rare and hard to find, especially in such excellent & fully intact condition as the ones we are offering.

4 — 6] DEVIKA RANI — three collectible portrait prints of Devika Rani from S. N. Roerich's paintings.
Publisher: International Roerich Memorial, 2004 — Rare First Edition S. N. Roerich Centenary Celebration Prints.
Medium: High-quality prints on textured art paper (not framed).
Size of each portrait print: 39 cm x 28.5 cm
ConditionPristine — Near Immaculate.

7] SPECIAL POSTAL COVER — BOMBAY TALKIES
Empty Envelope: featuring images of two films & an image of the Bombay Talkies Studio on the front side.
Envelope size: 22.3 cm x 11.2 cm
Produced by: Department of Posts, India (Maharashtra Circle).
ConditionPristine — Near Immaculate.

Please email us on kumarclassicbookpoint@gmail.com for cost and availability, or for any further queries in order to serve you better. Delivery in Mumbai is free.



































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