Rare Theater Books

London: Methuen & Co, 1965. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First edition. Fine in fine, very lightly rubbed dustwrapper. In custom chemise and quarter morocco gilt and cloth slipcase. Inscribed by Pinter to Vivien Merchant, the lead (and only) actress in the play, who was also his wife: "June 1965 To Vivien. Thank you! David." Pinter was an actor as well, and here uses his stage name, David Baron. *The Homecoming* won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1967, and Merchant was nominated for Best Actress. As good an association as possible in what is probably the Nobel Prize-winning playwright's best-known and commercially most successful drama.

Philadelphia, PA: Bioren & Madan, 1795. First Edition.. Leather Bound. Very Good/No Jacket (as issued). 16mo 5.75 - 6.75'' tall. Leather Bound. Condition: Very Good. Jacket Condition: No Jacket (as issued). Bioren & Madan, Philadelphia, PA 1795. Corrected From the Latest and Best London Editions, With Notes By Samuel Johnson, L.L.D. to Which Are Added, a Glossary and the Life of the Author. First American printing of the works of Shakespeare. Imbellished with a striking Likeness from the Collection of his Grace the Duke of Chandos. First Edition. 1st American Printing. Volumes 1,3,4,5,6,7 ONLY of 8 volume set. Full leather bound, boards undecorated, spine has deep-red title band and black edition band, with gold lettering, stars and bands. Plain endpapers and page edges. Volume One has frontispiece portrait of Shakespeare. All title pages state 'First American Edition', with a date of 1795 or 1796. Some spine ends have small leather loss, to level of top or bottom of text block. All hinges are… Leer más

London: printed for John Bell...and C. Etherington at York, 1774. 9 volumes, 12mo, each volume with an engraved title page, each play with a separately printed title page and an engraved frontispiece, portraits of Shakespeare and Garrick in volume 1, volume 9 contains a Life of Shakespeare and the poems; contemporary and almost certainly original calf-backed marbled boards, black morocco labels on spines; front cover loose on volume 1; volumes 2 and 3 length of spine with vertical crack; all joints cracked, extremities worn; yet still a compelling set, unrestored. "All the plays were paginated and printed separately for the use of playgoers ... Like that of 1747, this edition (dedicated to Garrick) was accused of being the worst ever published. To be 'damned with faint praise' sometimes proves the best aid to sales, as in this case. It scored a greater success than any previous issue, one week alone witnessing the sale of 800 sets. Doubtless the beautiful copperplates helped the output considerably"… Leer más

New York: Scribner’s, 1940. First Edition. A scarce book, of which only 1174 copies were printed. Front endpapers browned from a formerly laid in newspaper clipping, else near fine in a dust jacket with minor browning and spotting.

San Francisco:: Pettingell Book Bindery / Art Hazelwood,, 2011.. Edition of 20. 12 x 13" fold-out boxed opera set with screenprinted covers. Includes miniature stage set, seven two-dimensional puppets that fit into groves in the stage floor, six engravings that act as changeable background drops, and a booklet with libretto. Engravings printed on Hahnemühle Copperplate paper and Lana Gravure paper. Screenprints printed on Hahnemühle Bugra paper and Arches Watercolor Hot Press paper. Booklet (8.5 x 5"; 24 pages) printed on Mohawk Superfine and set in Verlag, Chronicle Text, and Lithos Pro. Signed by Hazelwood. Art Hazelwood: "Tora Bora is a reverse engineered opera. The Seventeenth Century etcher Jacques Callot’s illustrations of scenes from operas inspired the thought—what if all that remained of an opera were etchings from a few scenes? How, for example, would the Magic Flute be reconstructed from that? With this in mind Art Hazelwood and Klaus-Ullrich… Leer más

Denmark: Various, 1935. 'Soya' (Carl Erik Martin Soya) (1896 - 1983) Danish author, epicure, playwright and social-satire moralist. "…Soya's works are a mixture of primitiveness with refinement, uncertainty & intransigence with forbearance, courage with compassion… A Rabelais-like character comedian and fabulant who is constantly haunted by a misanthropy akin to Guy de Maupassant… His countless publications extend into a majority of genres and forms: newspaper journalism, reviews, poetry, children's books, school plays, librettos, aphorisms, pamphlets… Among numerous honors received were the Holberg Medal in 1947, Henrik Pontoppidan Memorial Fund 1949, Gyldendals Herman Bang scholarship, 1950 Oehlenschlæger scholarship in 1961, Johs. Ewald scholarship in 1968, and the Danish Academy's highest award in 1975..." (see the third edition of the Danish biographical dictionary, published 1979-84) The collection was formed due to the close and… Leer más

Probaly Venice, 1825. An exquisite suite of watercolours, including a beautiful series of scenes documenting a Venetian commedia dell'arte troupe, by the Italian artist Francesco Novelli. Francesco Novelli (1767-1836), one of the preeminent artists of his generation, lived in Venice where he was best known for his outstanding book illustration. He enjoyed a long and successful career that culminated in the landmark editions of Don Quixote (1819) and Gil Blas (1820). Novelli is also known for illustrating works such as the Fasti Veneziani (1794), hinting at his abiding interest in the theatre and the performing arts. In this unmatched collection of Novelli's watercolours, the greatest number are piquant images of a troupe of the commedia dell'arte, with especially fine depictions of Pierrot himself, as well as other key figures such as Columbine and Harlequin. There is a remarkable series of scenes from a play, as well as studies of individual performers, many so precisely rendered that it is almost… Leer más

John Lane at The Sign of The Bodley Head. London. 1894. FIRST EDITION. One of just 50 large paper copies printed on hand made paper. Small 4to.(8.4 X 6.3 inches). Original buckram with gilt lettering to the spine. Attractive floral designs by Charles Shannon in gilt to the spine and both boards. Spine and hinge edges of boards cloth is darkened but the gilt is still bright. Fore and bottom page edges are untrimmed. Offsetting to the blank free endpapers otherwise a bright and clean copy throughout. --- Mason 365.

Rare complete set of 70 hand-coloured lithographic portraits of French actors and actresses on the Paris stage, circa 1825. Also known as Collection de portraits des artistes des theatres de Paris.Fine hand-coloured portraits of actors, opera singers and ballet dancers in costume of their famous roles by Alexandre-Marie Colin and Louis Marin-Lavigne, lithographed by F. Noel.Artistes include actors Jean-Baptiste Firmin, Joseph-Isidore Samson, Jenny Vertpre and Mlle. Pauline, opera singers Louis Fereol, Louise Therese Lemonnier, Felicite Pradher, Adolphe Nourrit, Caroline Branchu and Mlle. Grassari, ballet dancers Marie Cheza, Louise Pierson and Zelie Molard, mime artist Charles-Francois Mazurier.Condition: Original marble boards rebound into a portfolio with buckram spine, all 70 plates loose inside. Plates fine and vibrant with excellent handcolouring, a few with repairs. Alexandre-Marie Colin (1798-1875) was a French painter of historical and genre subjects. Louis Stanislas Marin-Lavigne (1797-1860)… Leer más

Milano: Ricordi, 1830. First Edition — Primera edición. 232x325mm. (9¼x12¾").. Milano & Firenze, Gio. Ricordi, c.1830. Folio oblongo (232 x 325)mm. (1) hoja de título, (1) h. de índice y personajes, 266 pp., 5 láminas grabadas y coloreadas a mano en la época representando los escenarios de la obra sobre dibujos de Sanquirico. Encuadernación en pleno marroquén de época color azul marino, hilo y rueda dorada enmarcando los planos, lomera cuajada de adornos dorados, rueda dorada en los contracantos, cabeza y cortes también dorados. Primera edición de gran rareza extra ilustrado con láminas de Sanquirico. Il Talismano, con libreto de Gaetano Barniere sobre texto de Walter Scott, fue la primera representación en el Teatro alla Scala de Milán, representada el 10 de junio de 1829. El libro, todo grabado en plancha, está además ilustrado con 5 magníficas láminas grabadas en litografía y coloreadas a mano inventadas y dibujadas por Alessandro Sanquirico representando escenarios para la… Leer más

4° (mm 200x135); cc. (8), segnate A-B4. Al frontespizio, silografia dell'Angelo al di sopra di un'altra silografia scenico-narrativa (mm 90x115); alla carta B1r, silografia a tre quarti di pagina (mm 73x102); al verso dell'ultima carta, la medesima silografia del frontespizio. Elegante legatura tardo-ottocentesca - verosimilmente inglese - in marocchino marrone con filettatura in oro ai piatti e titolo in oro lungo il dorso. Bell'esemplare.
Provenienza: Fairfax-Murray ? (cfr. Sander, 6220 [nota]); Libreria Il Polifilo, Milano (Cat. XIII [1947], n. 69).
Rarissima edizione fiorentina, splendidamente illustrata da tre silografie scenico-narrative. Cioni, 175-76; De Batines, 35-36; Sander, 6220 [nota]; Kristeller, 185.
Quella del frontespizio, reimpressa al verso dell'ultima carta, riprende il legno della prima edizione [Firenze, fine del sec. XV- inizi del sec. XVI, cfr. Sander, 6215, tav. 646, De Marinis, 166, tav. CXCVIII). Il secondo legno, che rappresenta un giovane uomo inginocchiato davanti a un… Leer más

(cm 33x27,5). An elaborate - very rare - children's movable and pop-up book by the Munich lawyer and author of humourous verse, Franz Bonn (cfr. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Bonn). This complete with four splendid perspective scenes, each with five different levels. The scenes are "The Menagerie", "The Circus", "The Puppet Theater" (with a rotating disc), and "Summer in the Park". With verses by Mrs. Bonn. Klotz I, 592, 4. We could trace just one other copy (Munich, IJB).

New York: Alfred A. Knopf / A Borzoi Book, 1947 First printing of the first edition, original publisher’s teal cloth, yellow top edge; in original dust jacket; written while Hughes was a visiting writer in residence at Atlanta University, containing over 70 poems including “Border Line” that was submitted by Hughes for the 1962 anthology Poet’s Choice. A presentation copy from Langston Hughes to Marius Flothius: “Especially for / Marius Flothius / with my thanks for your excellent / musical settings / of my poems, / Sincerely / Langston Hughes / New York, November 1, 1955.” Additionally, loosely laid-in is a brochure for Hughes’ “The Rhythms of the World” and a single page carbon copy of Hughes’ short poem “Cross.”
Marius Flothuis (1914–2000) was a Dutch composer who set six of Hughes’ poems to music.
Shallow crimping to cloth spine ends, the very tip of the bottom back corner slightly softened, and light toning to… Leer más

Rare. 91pp + 4pp preliminary 'To The Reader', Prologue and Production details, 1pp Epilogue. Bound in later brown wrappers with title feintly written in pencil to front. Opens at title page, which has been tipped in and has a strip of paper strengthening to verso of leading edge. The pages are closely cropped to upper and lower edges. Minor loss to lower corner of rear cover, and crease to upper corner.Sir Patient Fancy: A Comedy, Aphra Behn's first overtly political play, was performed in Dorset Garden on 17 January 1678. In An Account of the English Dramatick Poets, Gerard Langbaine noted that Sir Patient Fancy was based loosely on Moliere's last play, Le Malade imaginaire, which had been staged in Paris in 1673 and printed in 1675.

Faulkner was a noble prize winner for his book " Soldier's Pay, Sanctury". etc
The three volumes are in a box cover you can call it dust jacket has signs of age. However, the three books are in almost new condition. The hardcover has a glowiwng aura.
It is a collectors treasure. To be passed on to several generations.