Waiting for Godot
Price: $1,200.00
Hard Cover. London: Faber and Faber, 1959. First UK Edition. Near Fine / Dust Jacket Included.
Translated into English by the author. First UK edition, first printing. Publisher's yellow cloth, with spine lettered in dark red, and publisher's note tipped in after the copyright page; in the original black and white dust jacket with a photograph from a production of the play to front panel and a photo of Beckett to rear panel, and advertisements for James Joyce's works to rear jacket flap. Near fine book, with some staining to top edge of text block and just a touch of wear to spine ends and corners, and slight offsetting to endpapers; very good price-clipped dust jacket, with light wear to spine ends, a touch of rubbing to front spine fold, and some soiling and scratching to upper third of rear panel and upper right corner of rear flap. Overall, a pleasing copy of this major work. Waiting for Godot (originally published under the title En attendant Godot) is an absurdist play following Vladimir and Estragon, two men who converse in witty, amusing, and philosophical banter while they wait for the titular character. Beckett (1906-1989), an Irish author whose move to France was accompanied by his transition from writing in English to French, self-translated this text from its original French. The play originally premiered in Paris at the Théâtre de Babylone in January 1953. This first UK edition contains the text used by the Criterion Theater for its production of the play after the London premier in August 1955 at the Arts Theater. When the play was transferred to Criterion, a "small number of textual deletions" were made as per Lord Chamberlain's requirements; to keep in accordance with the strict UK theater censorship of the 1950's, certain phrases and names were altered to make the play less controversial. Many subsequent productions have since altered Beckett's original text, leading to a bit of a discrepancy as to which version is the definitive text. A theatrical masterpiece, Godot was voted the "most significant English-language play of the 20th century" in a poll of 800 playwrights, actors, directors and journalists conducted by the British Royal National Theatre. Item #SB037
