It's time to dim the lights and raise the curtain, as James Cummins Bookseller is proud to present All the World's a Stage, our newest catalogue dedicated to some of history's greatest playwrights. With inventory spanning from landmark 16th-century editions of ancient Greek plays to Eugene O'Neill's tribute to his old drama teacher there is something for the most devoted of thespians to the amateur dramatist. Highlights include the first octavo Shakespeare with the poems; a remarkable association copy of The Cocktail Party with a pre-publication presentation inscription from T.S. Eliot to American friend, poet, and critic Allen Tate; and several portrait photographs taken by Carl Van Vechten.
London: R. Wellington, 1703. Later edition. Banks was a lawyer turned playwright, who wrote "One of the most consistently popular tragedies on the London stage" (Sutherland English Literature of the Late Seventeenth Century"). Dryden contributed the Prologue and the Epilogue to this historical tragedy, first printed in 1682, then 1685..... Read More about The Unhappy Favourite; or, The Earl of Essex. A Tragedy
Price: $400
[1965]. Signed by Beckett. Read More about Photograph of the author, Signed
Price: $2,000
[Paris: 1969]. Autograph manuscript entitled "Chien anagramme de niche", [in French: 'dog' is indeed an anagram of 'kennel'], being a dialogue in French between "A" and "B". A. Où suis-je? B. Où vous étiez hier. A. Où je serai demain B. Ce n’est pas sûr. “Although they are less easily..... Read More about Autograph Manuscript, Chien anagramme de niche, an abandoned fragment of Fin de partie
Price: $5,000
Paris: 1970-73. To Jean Demélier. A group of brief responses to his friend, the French writer Jean Demélier (b.1940), thanking him for his letters, mentioning travel plans, arranging meetings, etc. In the note dated 5-11-70, Beckett punningly congratulates Demélier on his soon to be published first novel, Le Rêve de..... Read More about Collection of 6 autograph postcards signed and 1 autograph letter signed ("Sam"), to...
Price: $2,500
Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit, 1952. First trade edition (after 35 signed copies on large paper), one of 2,500 copies. Beckett's masterpiece, and one of the defining works of the 20th century. A major innovation in modern drama, possibly the most important play of the 20th Century, and certainly the..... Read More about En attendant Godot
Price: $2,500
London: Faber and Faber, [1976]. Uncorrected Proof Copy. Read More about Footfalls
Price: $250
London: Faber and Faber, [1962]. First UK edition. Read More about Happy Days
Price: $150
Paris: Les éditions de minuit, [1975]. First edition, number 58 of 150 copies. Inscribed. Inscribed on the title page, "for William Targ & Roslyn very cordially Sam. Beckett". William Targ (1907-1999), was an editor and then head of Putnam's before founding his own imprint, Targ Editions; he was also a...... Read More about pas moi
Price: $750
[London]: Turret Books, 1971. First edition, limited issue, limited to 100 numbered copies, signed by Samuel Beckett. Reproduces a few pages of Beckett manuscripts in holograph facsimile, prints portraits of Beckett, describes unpublished texts, etc. Read More about SAMUEL BECKETT: an exhibition, held at Reading University Library, May to July 1971. Catalogue by...
Price: $1,250
London: Faber and Faber, 1956. First British edition, first printing, translated by Beckett himself. With the publisher's note tipped in. The English text of Beckett's most famous title, one of the great works of the world stage, and decidedly uncommon signed. A major innovation in modern drama, possibly the most..... Read More about Waiting for Godot
Price: $2,000
New York: [1983]. Inscribed by Beckett. Inscribed, "to Bill Targ with all good wishes Sam Beckett". William Targ (1907-1999) was an editor and then head of Putnam's before founding his own imprint, Targ Editions; he was also a noted bibliophile and Beckett collector. His wife Roslyn Targ (1925-2017) was Beckett's..... Read More about The Harold Clurman Theatre and Lucille Lortel ... Present the World Premiere of Samuel Beckett's...
Price: $400
n.p: 1907. The Playwright Henry Arthur Jones, by Max Beerbohm. Henry Arthur Jones was an English playwright who, without reaching the heights of Wilde or Shaw, enjoyed three decades of almost unbroken successes, beginning in 1882 with “The Silver King,” the most celebrated melodrama of its day. He was brilliant..... Read More about Mr. Henry Arthur Jones
Price: $7,000
London: [Herbert Rose] Barraud, [1888][date per National Portrait Gallery]. Carbon print photographic portrait of Robert Browning. Robert Browning (1812-1889), English poet and playwright, was born in Camberwell, England. Read More about PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT OF ROBERT BROWNING
Price: $300
London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, 1837. First Edition. Browning’s friendship with the actor Macready led to an interest in playwrighting. Strafford, the first of three plays that Browning wrote, was produced at Covent Garden in 1837. Read More about Strafford: an Historical Tragedy
Price: $900
Paris: Gallimard, [1959]. First Edition, Copy "C" of 21 copies on Hollande van gelder (of which six are marked A-F, hors commerce). Camus's powerful theatre adapatation of Dostoevsky's Demons (The Possessed), which he directed at the Théâtre Antoine with the money from the Nobel Prize. It was a massive undertaking..... Read More about Les possédés: pièce en trois parties adaptée du roman de Dostoïevski
Price: $2,000
London: William Heinemann, [1931]. New impression. For Ronnie (Colman) from Noel Coward. Inscribed on flyleaf "For Ronnie, Who agrees with me Noel, 1932." Read More about Post-Mortem. A Play in 8 Scenes
Price: $600
London: Printed for G.G. J. and J. Robinson, 1792; 1785; 1789. First edition of the first title. Plays by Hannah Cowley & Elizabeth Inchbald. The comedies of Hannah Cowley (1743-1809) "constitute a dramatic oeuvre unmatched before her time by any woman except Aphra Behn." - Janet Todd, DICTIONARY OF BRITISH..... Read More about A Day in Turkey; or, The Russian Slaves. A Comedy, as acted at the Theatre Royal in Covent...
Price: $350
London: Tonson, Thomas Bennet and Richard Wellington, 1701. First Folio edition. With extra engraved frontispiece. Dryden's plays were first collected as early as 1682 and many times subsequent, though these early editions were simply 4to editions of his plays bound together with a new general title, and erratic in terms..... Read More about The Comedies, Tragedies, and Operas...Now first Collected together, and Corrected from the Originals
Price: $1,000
London: Faber and Faber, 1950. First edition. Presentation from Eliot to Allen Tate. With the error at page 29, line 1 “here” for “her.” A remarkable association copy, with the following pre-publication presentation inscription from Eliot to his American friend and admirer, poet and critic Allen Tate: "To Allen Tate..... Read More about The Cocktail Party. A Comedy
Price: $6,000
London: Faber and Faber Limited, [1953]. First edition. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY ELIOT on the front free endpaper: "To Ronnie Duncan from T.S.E. 23.iii.54" Ronald Duncan (1914-1982) was a poet and playwright who was also published by Faber and Faber. This is an early inscription. Read More about The Confidential Clerk
Price: $2,400
London: J. Roberts, 1730. First edition. Fielding's First Popular Success. First edition of Fielding's third play, a comic ballad opera in the mold of Gay's Beggar's Opera; it ran for 41 nights in its first season and was subsequently revived. "In March 1730 at the Little Haymarket Theatre he had..... Read More about The Author's Farce; and the Pleasures of the Town. As Acted at the Theatre in the Hay-Market....
Price: $2,500
London: John Watts, 1728. First edition. Fielding's First Play. First edition of the 20-year-old Fielding's first play and his second surviving publication. "Fielding's career as dramatist began auspiciously enough when, as an unknown author in his twentieth year, his first play, the comedy Love in Several Masques, was staged by..... Read More about Love in Several Masques. A Comedy, as it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal …
Price: $750
London: J. Watts, 1730. First edition, ordinary paper issue. Fielding's Second Play. First edition of Fielding's second play, written upon his return to London following nearly two years on the Continent. The Temple Beau was turned down by Drury Lane — where two years earlier Fielding, with the help of..... Read More about The Temple Beau. A Comedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre in Goodman's-Fields
Price: $1,250
Philadelphia: Printed by Henry Miller, in Second-Street, 1765. First edition. The first play produced by an American. First edition of The Prince of Parthia which was "the first drama written by a native American to be produced upon the professional stage" (DAB). The play debuted on 24 April 1767 at..... Read More about Juvenile Poems of Various Subjects. With the Prince of Parthia: A Tragedy by the late Mr. Thomas...
Price: $8,500
New York: Atheneum, 1971. First Edition, second printing. Presentation Copy. Theatrical memoirs by the celebrated actress and playwright. Inscribed on half title: “For Alec, darling man, Ruth / Easter '82”. Read More about Myself Among Others
Price: $100