The Glass Menagerie: A Play in Two Acts by Tennessee Williams, First UK Edition, 1948

Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie: A Play in Two Acts. London: John Lehmann Ltd., 1948. First UK Edition, Revised version. Octavo. In the publisher’s original magenta dust jacket and blue cloth boards. 

Presented is the first UK edition of The Glass Menagerie: A Play in Two Acts by Tennessee Williams. Published in London by John Lehmann Ltd. in 1948, this is the Revised Version. It is offered here in its original magenta dust jacket and blue cloth boards. A memory play, The Glass Menagerie is semi-autobiographical and mirrors events from Williams’ young adulthood and family dynamics.

The Glass Menagerie was Williams's first popular success and launched the talented playwright's career. In 1944, Williams traveled to Provincetown, where he started The Glass Menagerie, a reworking of his earlier short story “Portrait of a Girl in Glass” and screenplay “The Gentleman Caller.” The play premiered at the Civic Theater in Chicago in 1944, starring Laurette Taylor in the role of Amanda. Chicago critics Ashton Stevens and Claudia Cassidy championed the production, helping to build an audience strong enough to support its transfer to Broadway at the Playhouse Theater. The Glass Menagerie was a hit on Broadway, “hailed with joy from end to end” and praised as being composed of “make-believe so real it tears your heart out.” It won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award in 1945. 

The Glass Menagerie first appeared in book form in 1945, published by Random House in an edition of 5,000 copies. This first US edition is known as the “Reading Edition” and is the earliest published version of the play. Three years later, Williams reworked the original play script and issued an “Acting Edition,” published by the Dramatists Play Service in 1948. With approximately 1,100 differences between the Reading and Acting Editions, these two versions are the most disparate. The play evolved yet again, although not as drastically, for the 1948 first UK edition, published in London by John Lehmann Ltd. The UK edition is very similar to the Acting Edition, with the exception of scenes 4 and 5. 

CONDITION: 

First UK Edition, Revised version. 8vo. Very good+ condition. In publisher’s blue cloth-covered boards, with titling and blocking stamped in gilt and black on spine. Light shelf-soil, with rubbing to spine ends and board edges, very small stains to front and back boards. Internal pages are very clean, with light toning. 95pp.

In the original magenta dust jacket. Very good condition. Jacket is price-clipped, with some loss to last three lines of the synopsis printed on the front flap. Jacket is faded on the spine, with some shelf soiling. Tears and chips, including a 1/2" tear to upper rear panel, loss to top panel, nicks to spine panel, and small tears, chips, and creases to extremities and folds. With protective Mylar.

Book Dimensions: 9" H x 6 1/2" W x 1/2" D. 

Accompanied by our company's letter of authenticity.