a little piece of the past

This is a very cool book I found in a used book store a few days ago (it's the one propped up on the other two). It's called Lost Empire, and it's by a man named Hector Chevigny. Originally I just picked it up because I liked the creamy gray color of the cover, but then I noticed that it's a signed first edition! It's missing the dust jacket, so that decreases it's value by a lot, but I don't care about that, I was just excited when I saw this: Hollywood, 1937!


I can't quite make out who it's to, but it looks like Maurie or Marnie Fleck or Fleek. I Googled the combination of all those names and came up with real people from that time period. I also found a Maxine Fleck from Hollywood, but she would have been 12 when this book was signed, and I don't imagine too many 12 year olds would be out buying books about Russian politicians.
I did learn some cool stuff about the author (Hector Chevigny), though. He was president of the script department for CBS Radio, and national president of the Radio Writer's Guild. When he was in his fourties he began going blind due do something called a detached retina (?) and ended up going totally blind. He got a seeing eye dog and in 1943 wrote a book called My Eyes Have a Cold Nose :)

So as far as I can tell, it says
To Ma__ie Fle_k
with every good wish for your success and happiness.
Sincerely, Hector Chevigny
Hollywood, 1937

If anyone wants to make a guess about what the full name is, feel free:) I opened up the comments so anyone can comment. Also, you can click on any of the pictures for a closer look!