Books

First edition in English, first printing, translated by Beckett himself from its publication as En attendant Godot (1952). This copy is accompanied by a playbill for the first Broadway production, which premiered at the John Golden Theatre on 19 April 1956, following the immense success of the Paris opening on 5 January 1953 at the Théâtre de Babylone. An expurgated UK edition followed in 1956. This copy is from the significant theatre collection of Clive Hirschhorn (b. 1940), who spent decades as the Sunday Express's film and theatre critic and whose various histories of Hollywood include The Warner Bros. Story (1978) and The Hollywood Musical (1981). Hirschhorn's ownership inscription is pencilled on the front free endpaper verso. Octavo. Original black cloth, spine lettered in gilt and silver, blind titles trailing from the rear cover, to spine, then front, red endpapers. With dust jacket. Photographic half-tone portrait of Beckett, 3 half-tones after productions. Accompanying playbill with disbound covers, creases, and a few tears. Two instances of offsetting from formerly inserted newspaper clipping, else clean; unclipped jacket lightly spotted, brighter than usual, slight rubbing with a few nicks: a near-fine copy in like jacket. Federman & Fletcher 373.

One of the most important works of modernist literature, Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot is a play in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait for the arrival of someone named Godot who never arrives, and while waiting they engage in a variety of discussions and encounter several other characters.