Books

A Very Good copy of the first trade edition, following the 35 signed copies. A fragile softcover book. Front wrapper reattached and a tear repaired on p 29. Spine creased and a bit toned, text block also a bit browned, as often. Beckett s hugely influential tragicomedy is one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century theater. Beckett had originally written the play in French between the fall and winter of 1948-1949, but would not translate the play into English until its London premier in 1955. In fact, this edition of the play the Minuit edition - was released in 1952, before the play s first performance the next year. Beckett was thought to have been inspired to write the work after viewing Caspar David Friedrich s painting "Mann und Frau den Mond betrachtend" (Man and Woman observing the Moon). "It arrives at the custom house, as it were, with no luggage, no passport and nothing to declare: yet it gets through as might a pilgrim from Mars. It does this, I believe, by appealing to a definition of drama much more fundamental than any in the books. A play, it asserts and proves, is basically a means of spending two hours in the dark without being bored" (Contemporary Observer review from the famed drama critic Kenneth Tynan.). Very Good.

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.