Books

New York: New Directions, 1947. First edition of Williams' classic play, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. Octavo, original illustrated boards. Signed by Tennessee Williams on the front free endpaper. Near fine in an excellent dust jacket which has had some expert restoration to the extremities. Jacket design by Alvin Lustig. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. A Streetcar Named Desire received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Marlon Brando, Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden. “No one dared approach this new thing without caution. They had just witnessed something unprecedented on the stage, a high-pitched, jagged, alarming—and comical!—drama structure” (Sam Staggs). It is often regarded among the finest of American plays of the 20th century.