CITIZEN KANE (1941) Pressbook

Orson Welles (director) Hollywood: RKO Pictures, 1941. Vintage original 18 x 12″ (46 x 31 cm.) pressbook, USA. Folio, printed wrappers, stapled, 24 pp., folded in half horizontally with wear and some spine and fold separations. Also present is a small paper lift on the front, smudging, chipping on the back cover, and a few tears. The covers and a couple of the interior pages are detached, and there are strips of cellophane tape on the inside bracing some of the aforementioned issues. GOOD+.

Having said all that, pressbooks of this period were sent to theater owners specifically so that they could cut out ads to use for local publicity. As a result, pressbooks of this era are quite difficult to find intact. And this pressbook for CITIZEN KANE is indeed complete — and the only one which I have ever handled. The book is massive, with all kinds of articles about Welles and the film, and a plethora of promotional and publicity options.