Item:A TRIP TO THE MOON – 1-Sheet Movie Poster
Asking Price:$565,000. (Did Not Sell)
Bids:None
Date:December 31, 2011
Auction:Ebay
Seller:Mrs.Miniver
Feedback:549 (100%)
Description and images By:Mrs.Miniver
The single GREATEST poster to exist of anykind – WORLDWIDE!
UP FOR SALE is an original 1914 – A TRIP TO THE MOON – 1-sheet – It is the first famous film title in cinema history, pre-dating The Birth of a Nation. It is the greatest animation movie poster ever to be discovered, as well as being the most important early science fiction title.
Sigmund (sometimes spelled Siegmund) Lubin was one of the first film pioneers, a contemporary of Thomas Edison, Georges Melies, and the Lumiere brothers. In fact, Lubin manufactured in 1896, the first motion picture projector ever advertised for sale.
In 1902, at the turn of the century, when Melies first introduced his famous film, A Trip to the Moon, it became a sensation. Thomas Edison, Sigmond Lubin and a host of other filmmakers at the time, illegally duplicated and distributed A Trip to the Moon. Georges Melies promptly came to the United States to stop the pirating of his hit film, and many of the copyright laws that still stand today were implemented because of that effort. Melies subsequently prevailed in securing copyright protection, but failed to stop the film from continuing to be distributed illegally. In 1914, Lubin, once again, ripped off Melies and did a fully animated copy of the 1902 film, as you can see from the poster. The Lubin version does not exist, a nitrate fire destroyed the film shortly after it’s creation in 1914. It is believed that this poster was also used to promote the actual Melies film that Lubin was notorious for pirating. Either way, it is the only poster representation on A Trip to the Moon and one of the earliest science fiction posters, if not the earliest. There were no movie stars when this poster was issued. This is BEFORE Chaplin was a household name, and It’s 15 years before Mickey Mouse and an astounding 63 years before Star Wars.
Specific film titles were not used on movie posters at the time of Melies’ original release, just broadsides with text announcing the presentation of a moving image. This poster is the only copy known to exist, or is likely to exist! It’s amazing that this poster survived at all, almost EVERY movie poster from the teens and before is lost. A real piece of film history and a unique stone lithograph poster. Produced by the Otis Litho Company, this poster is extremely unique in the fact that it actually HAS printed white. This image was created with white ink applied, it does NOT use the white of the paper. This technique creates a dimentional effect, which helps to give the poster a surreal presence
Most recently the famous film director Martin Scorsese released a film about George Melies, featuring A Trip To The Moon. It’s titled Hugo and has already just won Best Picture at the National Board of Review.
The photos I have posted in this listing are VERY low grade. This is to protect the uniqueness of the poster image which has NEVER been reproduced. Serious bidders can arrange to view a professional 11×14 print on site in New York or New Jersey and/or in Los Angeles.
Buying this poster is ECONOMY PROOF! Why waste your money in the stock market? It can crash regardless of any decision you make and can even crash regardless of any decision made by the company related to the stock – Leaving you with a near worthless piece of paper that won’t inspire anyone! With the purchase of an historic document such as this Trip To The Moon, it doesn’t matter what happens to the economy, you will still have the inspirational document which can be displayed and enjoyed. The magnificence of art and historic documents have an inherent value that relates to civilization and society. Unless civilization itself crashes then this piece will hold its value and if civilization itself crashes – Who will care about money? This poster is definitely ECONOMY PROOF!