Three Edward Albee Play Typescripts
1968/1974/1987. Three typescripts by American playwright Edward Albee.
The first is a signed typescript of Albee’s 1987 Marriage Play. Commissioned by, and first performed at, Vienna’s English Theatre in Vienna, Austria, Marriage Play is a mid-career piece by the author of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. It engages with similar themes of domestic dispute and marital discord, with the unnamed husband and wife as the sole characters of this two-act play. New York: Michael Harvey Company, Inc. 1987. Small Quarto, 75 pages. In Very Good condition. Red paper wraps bound with brads and gilt lettering. The embossed label of the duplication service appears at the bottom left of the front cover (“Studio duplicating service, inc.” with address and identification number “L0 3-1225”). Head and tail of spine are bumped, and there is some wear to the bottom edge of the covers. Text block is clean, with Albee’s inscription on the title page: “For my Noel Clainevitch / who will find here a bit of / Chekov, a bit of Thurber, & a large / dose of his / Edward. / NYC 1991”.
The second typescript (unsigned) is an original three-act version of Albee's Pulitzer Prize winning play Seascape. Albee cut substantial portions of the play for its 1975 Broadway release, trimming it from a three- to a two-act play. This is the original, pre-1974 three-act edition not staged until decades later. Quarto, 144 pages. In Good condition. Teal leatherette wrap bound with brads and title in faded gilt lettering. The covers show moderate soiling, and chipping to the leatherette along the bottom edge of the covers and head of the spine. The top-most brad has separated from the back cover. The text block has light foxing to edges, and very slight interiorly on last page.
The third item is a mimeographed typescript for Albee's 1968 Box and Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung. The plays were performed for the first time on March 6,1968 at Studio Arena Theatre, Buffalo. It premiered in New York in September of that year. Quarto, 62 pages. In Fair condition. Dark green leatherette wrap bound with brads, and title in faded gilt lettering. Front cover is lightly soiled, has moderate chipping, creases along edges and tail of spine, and a ¼ in. puncture near bottom right corner. Textblock has faint water-stain to bottom edge, and mild age toning along edges. CX Consignment. Shelved in Room A.
1348120
Special Collections
Price: $1,500