PLAYS AT ASH RARE BOOKS
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AUDEN, W.H. (Wystan Hugh), 1907-1973 & ISHERWOOD, Christopher : ON THE FRONTIER : A MELODRAMA IN THREE ACTS. London : Faber & Faber, (1938). First edition. A play in prose and verse – intrigue and conflict between two imaginary neighbouring countries, with pronounced echoes of contemporary politics. £50 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 35677 – or simply click on the button
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BINYON, Laurence (Robert Laurence), 1869-1943 : THE YOUNG KING : A PLAY. Canterbury : H. J. Goulden, 1934. First edition : one of a relatively small number of copies of the “acting” edition produced for the cast and for sale at the original performances of the play at Canterbury Cathedral. Henry II, Queen Eleanor, and the young king, etc. Precedes the regular Macmillan edition. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 34709 – or simply click on the button
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DUNCAN, Ronald (Ronald Frederick Henry), 1914-1982 : THE DULL ASS’S HOOF : THREE PLAYS. London : Fortune Press, [1940]. First edition. A review copy, and so stamped on front free endpaper. Three verse plays: “The Unburied Dead”, dedicated to Gandhi; “Ora Pro Nobis”, dedicated to Richard March; and “Pimp, Skunk and Profiteer”, dedicated to Ezra Pound. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 24923 – or simply click on the button
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HARE, David (Sir David), 1947- : THE SECRET RAPTURE. London : Faber & Faber, (1988). First edition. “An elderly antiquarian bookseller has just died at his home in the country ... a mordant comedy of manners”. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 28651 – or simply click on the button
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HASSALL, Christopher (Christopher Vernon), 1912-1963 : CHRIST’S COMET : THE STORY OF A THIRTY YEARS’ JOURNEY THAT BEGAN AND ENDED ON THE SAME DAY. Canterbury : H. J. Goulden, 1938. Second edition. Signed by Christopher Hassall on the title-page. A blank verse play featuring Herod, Melchior, Balthazar, Kaspar – and the geographer Strabo – and here presented in the acting edition published for sale at performances of the play in the cathedral as part of the Canterbury Festival. Originally published by Heinemann the previous year. £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 43058 – or simply click on the button
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ORTON, Joe (John Kingsley), 1933-1967 : ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE : A COMEDY. London : Hamish Hamilton, (1964). First edition. One of the most sensational stage debuts in British theatre history, originally produced at the New Arts Theatre in May 1964, with Madge Ryan, Dudley Suton and Peter Vaughan – Terence Rattigan thought it the best first play he had ever seen. SOLD |
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OSBORNE, John (John James), 1929-1994 : VERY LIKE A WHALE. London : Faber & Faber, (1971). First edition : the hardback issue. A play written for television — a rich and powerful industrialist starts to pull apart his crumbling private life. The play was eventually turned into a film for television in 1980, with Alan Bates and Gemma Jones — “Osborne has this time tackled a subject worthy of his talents” (Liverpool Echo, 13th February 1980). £20 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 44907 – or simply click on the button
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PEACOCK, Thomas Love, 1785-1866 : THE PLAYS OF THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK : PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME. London : David Nutt, 1910. First edition. The first publication of three Peacock plays discovered among the manuscripts acquired by the British Museum in 1903 – “The Dilettanti”, “The Circle of Loda” and “The Three Doctors”. Edited and introduced by Peacock’s biographer, Arthur ButtonYoung (1877-1960). £50 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 22216 – or simply click on the button
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RATTIGAN, Terence (Sir Terence Mervyn), 1911-1977 : THE WINSLOW BOY. London : Hamish Hamilton, (1946). First edition. The cadet and the stolen postal order – the pursuit of justice for the unimportant – based on a true story and one of the defining plays of the mid-twentieth century, frequently revived, with numerous film, television and radio adaptations. Here inscribed by Rattigan to his secretary Mary, signed with forename (Terry) and dated October 1946. Mary Herring began working for Rattigan shortly before the play opened at the Lyric in May 1946 and was to become his confidante, companion, guardian of his reputation, controller of his finances, and keeper of his secrets for the next seventeen years. £250 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 40970 – or simply click on the button
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SAYERS, Dorothy L. (Dorothy Leigh), 1893-1957 : THE DEVIL TO PAY. Canterbury : H. J. Goulden, 1939. First edition : one of a relatively small number of copies of the “acting” edition produced for the cast and for sale at the original performances of the play at Canterbury Cathedral. Precedes the regular Gollancz edition, which was itself published in an edition of just 2,000 copies. An interesting play, in which Sayers reworks the Faust theme. £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 17290 – or simply click on the button
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SHAFFER, Peter (Sir Peter Levin), 1926-2016 : THE PRIVATE EAR AND THE PUBLIC EYE : TWO ONE ACT PLAYS. London : Hamish Hamilton, (1962). First edition. Two early Shaffer plays, recently successfully revived. Shy Bob, awkward Doreen (first played by Maggie Smith) and a disastrous date – and the tale of a pompous accountant, eccentric private eye (first played by Kenneth Williams) and a frustrated wife (Maggie Smith again). £50 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 43078 – or simply click on the button
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SIMPSON, N. F. (Norman Frederick), 1919-2011 : ONE WAY PENDULUM : A FARCE IN A NEW DIMENSION. London : Faber & Faber, (1960). First edition. Simpson’s finest and best-known play – absurdity, diversions, non-sequiturs, cardless card games, talking weight machines being trained to sing the Hallelujah Chorus, etc. First performed at the Royal Court in December 1959. “I suspect Mr Simpson to be the possessor of the subtlest mind ever devoted by an Englishman to the writing of farce” (Kenneth Tynan). SOLD |
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STOPPARD, Tom (Sir Thomas), 1937- : IN THE NATIVE STATE. London : Faber & Faber, (1991). First edition : the hardback issue. Stoppard’s radio play, the scenes alternating between the India of 1930 and the England of 1990. Dedicated to Felicity Kendal, who played Flora Crewe in the original BBC Radio 3 broadcast in April 1991. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 43878 – or simply click on the button
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WESKER, Arnold (Sir Arnold), 1932-2016 : CHIPS WITH EVERYTHING : A PLAY IN TWO ACTS. London : Jonathan Cape, (1962). First edition. Square-bashing with the RAF – the class system examined – and the undermining of a rebel. “A drama of striking power, intensity and conviction” (New York Post). £25 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 36804 – or simply click on the button
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WILLIAMS, “Tennessee” (Thomas Lanier), 1911-1983 : BABY DOLL : THE SCRIPT FOR THE FILM. London : Martin Secker & Warburg, 1957. First British edition. Published to coincide with the UK release of the controversial and much-banned Elia Kazan film starring Karl Malden, Carroll Baker and Eli Wallach. £40 To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 38699 – or simply click on the button
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