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The Cocktail Party by T. S. Eliot

About the Item

FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1950. 8vo, 8 1/3 x 5 3/4 inches (219 x 147 mm); 190 pp., + 1 leaf of music, and verso with cast of first Edinburgh Festival production. Black cloth boards lettered in gold on spine; binding tight and pages clean with even toning especially on edges. Dust jacket printed in yellow and black, with spine panel sunned, 1/4 inch hole not affecting text and 1/2 inch tear in rear panel. [Gallup A55b]. This is the most popular of Eliot's seven plays in his lifetime, although his 1935 play, Murder in the Cathedral, is better remembered today. It focuses on a troubled married couple who, through the intervention of a mysterious stranger, settle their problems and move on with their lives. It was written when the author was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey in 1948. First performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 1949, the play had successful runs in London and New York, and won the 1950 Tony Award for Best Play. From the estate of Robert Cecil Bald (1901 – 1965), an Australian scholar of English Literature, who moved to the US to teach at Cornell University in 1937 and was then a professor at the University of Chicago from 1952 to 1965. Condition: Near fine / DJ: Very good.
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 8.5 in (21.59 cm)Width: 5.75 in (14.61 cm)Depth: 0.5 in (1.27 cm)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1950
  • Condition:
    Wear consistent with age and use.
  • Seller Location:
    Middletown, NY
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: BH11271stDibs: LU8340235460712

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Two Typed Letters Signed (TLS) by T. S. Eliot
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Two one-page letters on Faber & Faber stationery, SIGNED by T. S. Eliot. The first, dated 1 December 1949 is double sided, 10 1/4 x 8 inches (266 x 204 mm) in envelope 4 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches (110 x 133 mm). The second is dated 23 August 1950, one sided, 8 x 6 7.8 inches (204 x 174 mm) in envelope 4 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches (110 x 133 mm). Typed in black and red ink, central vertical and horizontal folds, with no sign of wear. The accompanying envelopes show minor signs of wear and the back flap of the first envelope is partially torn. Fine. These two typewritten letters were addressed to Robert Cecil Bald (1901 – 1965), an Australian scholar of English Literature, who taught at Cornell University starting in 1937 and then at the University of Chicago from 1952 to 1965. They attest to a cordial exchange between a poet and a scholar, and the rich network of contacts that Eliot had both as an author and as the long-time editorial director at Faber & Faber in London (1925-1965). In the first letter, dated 1 December 1949 with a Cornell University address, Eliot declines an offer...
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