Rare Book Monthly

Articles - November - 2004 Issue

So where is Sam Spade when you need him anyway?

Here's looking at you kid.

Here's looking at you kid.


By Bruce McKinney

That's the question being by asked by the LA bibliophilic community these days. Long established eminent book and ephemera collector Dr. Gary Milan of Beverly Hills was recently the victim of a daytime break-in and theft of a large safe filled with a portion of his collection of important movie memorabilia. The 500 pound safe was stolen on October 19th between 2:30 and 3:00 in the afternoon from his estate. A police report has been filed and an investigation is underway. The authorities are looking for a truck full of movie lovers.

Dr. Milan has been building a collection of irreplaceable movie memorabilia for more than twenty years, much of it purchased at auction. Among the material taken are important items relating to the Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, and Stagecoach.

Here is a brief summary of the stolen material.
Scripts for The Maltese Falcon, multiple copies of scripts for Casablanca, a Stage Coach script signed by Walter Wanger and John Ford with attached letter. Script for Citizen Kane;

Press books for Casablanca, Maltese Falcon and It Happened One Night;

John Huston's typed manuscript for the Maltese Falcon;

Original correspondence between John Huston and Warner Brothers regarding the play "Everyone Comes to Rick's" which later was renamed Casablanca [1943];

A copy of the play "Everyone Comes to Rick's" [later renamed and became the basis of the movie Casablanca];

Michael Curtiz's nomination plaque for an Academy Award for best director for Casablanca [1943];

Two archives [folders] of notes and information that were from the personal files of Henry Blanke, who was associated with the productions of Casablanca and the Maltese Falcon;

Multiple signed cast photos of the Maltese Falcon and Casablanca including many photos signed Dudley Wilson as Casablanca Sam;

Other Academy Award nomination plaques;

Letter from Jack Warner to George James Hopkins congratulating him for his work on Casablanca;

Rare Book Monthly

  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
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