"A MAJOR EVENT IN THEATRE": RARE SIGNED FIRST EDITION OF T.S. ELIOT'S THE COCKTAIL PARTY

ELIOT, T.S. The Cocktail Party. London: Faber and Faber, (1950). Octavo, original green cloth, original dust jacket. $6000.

First edition, uncommon first state, signed by Eliot and with an additional text correction bearing his initials.

Partially inspired by Euripides' Alcestis, Eliot's comedy premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in August 1949 and opened in New York the following January, featuring Alec Guinness in his Broadway debut, reprising his role as the Unidentified Guest. Followed by a London premiere the same year, The Cocktail Party won the 1950 Tony Award for Best Play and was hailed as "a major event in theater… No recent play combines so much polish with so much wit" (Time). Issued with a scant number of first state copies ("a few hundred at most") containing the misprint "here" for "her" on page 29, line 1 (Sackton A55a). "Copies with and without the error were bound up and issued simultaneously. The first copy delivered to the publishers did not contain the error" (Gallup A55a). Sackton A55a. Gallup A55a. The title page is neatly signed by Eliot, who also made the here/her correction at page 29 and added his initials in the margin.

Book very nearly fine with traces of wear to spine; dust jacket very good with tiny chip to front panel and short tear at spine head.