FIRST EDITION OF THE ROSE TATTOO, BOLDLY INSCRIBED BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

WILLIAMS, Tennessee. The Rose Tattoo. (New York): New Directions, (1951). Octavo, original rose cloth, original dust jacket. $2350.

First edition of Williams’ Tony Award-winning play—his “celebration of the inebriate god,” boldly inscribed on the title page by Tennessee Williams.

Williams wrote of his play, "The Rose Tattoo is the Dionysian element in human life… the lyric as well as the Bacchantic impulse… the transcendence of life over the instruments it uses… a celebration of the inebriate god" (Spoto, The Kindness of Strangers, 170). In his Memoirs he called it "my love-play to the world." Williams wrote the play following his 1948 trip to Italy. It opened in New York on February 3, 1951, and ran for 306 performances, winning five Tony Awards, including Best Play, and was adapted to the screen in 1955, earning three Oscars, including Best Actress for Anna Magnani. Binding A, in rose cloth. Crandell A10.1.a.

Book fine, dust jacket very good with expert reinforcement to verso. An attractive copy.