TOM STOPPARD FIRST EDITIONS AT
ASH RARE BOOKS
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UNITED KINGDOM

London : Faber & Faber, (1968). Second edition. His first published play, first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1966.
Post 8vo (20cm). 92,[iv]pp. Original wrappers – a design in pink, white and blue, lettered in black; external wrapper price-clipped; very slightly sunned at spine; just a touch bruised, but a very good copy. Contemporary ownership inscription. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

£40

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London : Faber & Faber, (1974). A reprint of the 1968 second edition. Signed by Tom Stoppard on the title-page. His first published play, first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1966, and a sensation when put on professionally at the National Theatre the following year, with John Stride and Edward Petherbridge in the title roles. “The play should be seen ... for it is unique” (Harold Hobson in the Sunday Times).
Crown 8vo (19cm). 92,[iv]pp. Original wrappers; very good. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

£50

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London : Faber & Faber, [ca.1998]. A twenty-fourth printing of the 1968 second edition. Inscribed, “To Ira Nadel” and signed by Tom Stoppard on the front free endpaper. The introductory cast-list of the 1967 National Theatre production is further signed by John Stride and Edward Petherbridge, who played the title roles. Loosely inserted is a National Theatre postcard of Stride and Petherbridge in that original production. Nadel was the author of “Double Act : A Life of Tom Stoppard” in 2002.
Post 8vo (20cm). (94),[ii]pp. Original wrappers; a couple of minor scuffs, but a very good copy. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

£250

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London : Faber & Faber, (1973). A reprint of the original 1971 edition. Signed by Tom Stoppard on the half-title. A surreal farce – “the dialogue operates like a railway junction with a madman switching over the points” (Irving Wardle in The Times). First performed at the Ambiance Lunch-Hour Theatre Club, “with outstanding success” in 1970, with Prunella Scales and Stephen Moore in the leading parts.
Post 8vo (21cm). (48)pp. Original yellow and white wrappers; a few faint marks, but a very good copy of a fragile production. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

£50

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London : Faber & Faber, (1983). A reprint of the original 1971 edition. “The dialogue operates like a railway junction with a madman switching over the points” (Irving Wardle in The Times). First performed at the Ambiance Lunch-Hour Theatre Club, “with outstanding success” in 1970, with Prunella Scales and Stephen Moore in the leading parts.
Post 8vo (20cm). (48)pp. Original decorative wrappers; a touch sunned; text lightly tanned, but a good copy of a fragile production. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

£20

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London : Faber & Faber, (1972). The first reprint of the original 1972 edition. “Tom Stoppard ... works with a brilliance, an intellectual agility, and a capacity of mind as well as of wit that have no rival on the contemporary stage” (Harold Hobson in the Sunday Times review).
Post 8vo (20cm). (92),[iv]pp. Original wrappers; a few faint signs of age and use, but a very good copy. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

£20

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New York : Grove Press, [1974]. First American edition. Signed by Tom Stoppard on the front free endpaper. A review copy, with the publisher’s slip loosely inserted – the slip revealing that the actual publication date was 1974, to coincide with the first American production of the play in that year, and not the 1972 of the copyright date, which has confused countless cataloguers. “Simply dazzling. It takes your breath away with its sheer exuberance of literacy, its cascade of words and conspicuous display of intellect. It is also extraordinarily funny” (Clive Barnes in the New York Times, 20th February 1974).
Post 8vo (22cm). (92),[iv]pp. Music. Original black cloth, lettered in gilt; a very good, bright, sound and clean copy in the photographic dust-jacket (Michael Hordern and Diana Rigg in the original London production) – the jacket also very good. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

SOLD

London : Faber & Faber, (1996). First Faber Library edition. “In this dark, exuberant comedy, Stoppard brilliantly parodies the philosophy lecture, the detective thriller, the comedy of manners, and the Whitehall farce”. This attractively produced hardback edition in the Faber Library series contains the revised 1986 text.
Post 8vo (21cm). [viii],(88)pp. Original black boards, lettered in gilt; a vey good copy in the dust-jacket – the jacket just faintly sunned, but also very good. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), author of “Double Act : A Life of Tom Stoppard” in 2002.

£25

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London : Faber & Faber, (1973). First edition : the wrappers issue. Signed by Tom Stoppard on the title-page. “Stoppard uses radio as a carver uses wood: we are given a near flawless miniature by a craftsman utterly at home with his tools” (Jeremy Rundall in the Sunday Times).
Post 8vo (20cm). (80)pp. Original wrappers; a couple of faint and tiny marks; just the merest hint of bruising, but a very good copy. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

£125

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New York : Grove Press, (1976). First American edition. Signed by Tom Stoppard on the front free endpaper. Interlinked plays always performed together – sexual indiscretion in parliamentary places – “Tom Stoppard again unrolls a dazzling carpet of words to provide us with a joyous evening. They are the happiest 85 minutes available in the West End just now. Inspired fantasy, blissful entertainment!” – Felix Barker on the London production, with Luan Peters, Edward de Souza, Peter Bowles, etc.
Post 8vo (21cm). (76),[iv]pp. Original black cloth, lettered in silver; tiny rim of sunning at foot of spine, but otherwise a sparkling copy in the Kenneth R. Deardoff dust-jacket – a design in lilac and black – the lilac inevitably a little sunned at spine, but the jacket otherwise very good and without wear. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

SOLD

New York : Grove Press, (1979). First American edition. Stoppard in darkest Africa – a despot not unlike Idi Amin, communist-backed revolution, a mine-owner, a couple of contrasting journalists, etc. “Fleet Street gets a well-aimed kick in the pants” began “The Stage” review of the original 1978 London production, with John Thaw, Diana Rigg, etc.
Post 8vo (22cm). x,(114),[iv]pp. Original black cloth-backed boards, lettered in silver; a very good copy indeed – clean, bright and sound – in an equally very good dust-jacket – a design by Peter Morance. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

£40

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New York : Grove Press, (1979). First American edition : the wrappers issue. Stoppard in darkest Africa – a despot not unlike Idi Amin, communist-backed revolution, a mine-owner, a couple of contrasting journalists, etc. “Fleet Street gets a well-aimed kick in the pants” began “The Stage” review of the original 1978 London production, with John Thaw, Diana Rigg, etc.
Post 8vo (21cm). x,113,[v]pp. Original wrappers in a design by Peter Morance; very good. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

£20

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London & Boston : Faber & Faber, (1983) [but 1984]. An American-printed and considerably revised text of the original 1982 London publication, featuring photographs by Martha Swope of Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons in the 1984 Broadway production. Marked “Book Club Edition” on the dust-jacket, but would appear to predate the regular American hardback edition.
Demy 8vo (22cm). [x],(116),[ii]pp. Photographs. Original tan boards, lettered in cerise; just a hint of bruising, but a very good copy in the dust-jacket – the jacket a little worn, slightly nicked and chipped with a couple of small tape-repairs at head. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

£25

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Boston & London : Faber & Faber, (1984). First American edition : the wrappers issue. “I can’t write love ... loving and being loved is unliterary”. A revised version of the original 1982 London publication.
Post 8vo (20cm). (82),[vi]pp. Original patterned wrappers; a touch sunned and a little bowed, but otherwise a very good copy. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), author of “Double Act : A Life of Tom Stoppard” in 2002, with his pencilled annotation and underlining in places.

£25

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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.
Post 8vo (21cm). [viii],(86),[ii]pp. Original blue boards, lettered in white; text just faintly tanned, but a very good copy indeed in the Tania Willis dust-jacket – the jacket also very good indeed.

£40

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London : Faber & Faber, (1994). New edition. Adds the 1991 “In the Native State” to earlier collections of similar title. Eight plays, including “Albert’s Bridge”, “Artist Descending a Staircase”, “The Dog it was that Died”, etc.
Post 8vo (21cm). [2],viii,(284),[x]pp. Original black boards, ruled and lettered in white; a very good copy in the dust-jacket – the jacket also very good. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

£50

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London : Faber & Faber, (1997). First edition of this Stoppard version of Chekhov’s classic, written for a Peter Hall Old Vic production. Signed by Tom Stoppard on an initial blank. With an interesting introduction by Stoppard on the play, Chekhov, and the problems of translating him.
Post 8vo (20cm). [2],xii.[2],(72),[viii]pp. Original wrappers in a design by Creative Hands; some very minor wear and faint creasing; a couple of tiny marks; text just a touch tanned, but a very good copy. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer, with his very occasional pencil markings.

SOLD

London : Faber & Faber, (1997) [but 1998]. The second printing of the original 1997 publication, but the first printing of the final text – there is a fresh introductory note dated January 1998 by Stoppard – “This text is slightly altered in places where I have brought it into line with the performance at the Royal National Theatre”. The life of A. E. Housman, with guest appearances from the bibliographer A. W. Pollard, Walter Pater, John Ruskin, Frank Harris, W. T. Stead, Jerome K. Jerome, and Oscar Wilde – “the most emotionally powerful and enthralling play of his career” (Evening Standard).
Post 8vo (20cm). [x],102pp. Original wrappers; just a hint of sunning, but a very good copy. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), author of “Double Act : A Life of Tom Stoppard” in 2002, with his inked underlining in places. Loosely inserted is a ticket for the 2002 American Conservatory Theater production, used as a bookmark.

£50

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London : Faber & Faber, (2004). First edition. Stoppard, Pirandello, madness and sanity. First performed at the Donmar Warehouse in April 2004, with Francesca Annis, etc.
Post 8vo (20cm). [viii],(66),[vi]pp. Original wrappers; very good. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

£25

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London : Faber & Faber, (2006). First hardback edition. Preceded by a paperback sold at the Royal Court during the play’s opening run, but this version has been revised to bring the text into line with the actual performance, and also includes an important introduction by Stoppard, vital to understanding the intentions of the play. With notes and an explanatory timeline.
Post 8vo (21cm). xxii,[4],118pp. Original black boards, lettered in ivory; a very good, clean and bright copy in the dust-jacket – the jacket sunned at spine, but otherwise also very good. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

£50

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