The Godfather. by Puzo, Mario - 1969

New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1969. First edition of Puzo's definitive novel of the Mafia underworld. Octavo, original half black cloth. Signed by both Mario Puzo on the the front free endpaper and additionally signed on the front free endpaper by director Francis Ford Coppola and Robert De Niro. Puzo and Coppola both won an Oscar for the best adapted screenplay for The Godfather. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Jacket art by S. Neil Fujita. A unique example. A searing novel of the Mafia underworld, The Godfather introduced readers to the first family of American crime fiction, the Corleones, and the powerful legacy of tradition, blood, and honor that was passed on from father to son. "A voyeur's dream, a skillful fantasy of violent personal power" (New York Times). It was made into the 1972 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Albert S. Ruddy, starring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. It was the highest-grossing film of 1972 and was for a time the highest-grossing film ever made. It won the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Brando) and Best Adapted Screenplay (for Puzo and Coppola). Its seven other Oscar nominations included Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall for Best Supporting Actor and Coppola for Best Director. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest films in world cinema and one of the most influential, especially in the gangster genre. It was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1990, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and is ranked the second-greatest film in American cinema (behind Citizen Kane) by the American Film Institute. It was followed by sequels The Godfather Part II (1974) and The Godfather Part III (1990).