Literary Miscellany
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Literary Miscellany Chiefly Recent Acquisitions. Catalogue 316 WILLIAM REESE COMPANY 409 TEMPLE STREET NEW HAVEN, CT. 06511 USA 203.789.8081 FAX: 203.865.7653 [email protected] www.williamreesecompany.com TERMS Material herein is offered subject to prior sale. All items are as described, but are considered to be sent subject to approval unless otherwise noted. Notice of return must be given within ten days unless specific arrangements are made prior to shipment. All returns must be made conscientiously and expediently. Connecticut residents must be billed state sales tax. Postage and insurance are billed to all non-prepaid domestic orders. Orders shipped outside of the United States are sent by air or courier, unless otherwise requested, with full charges billed at our discretion. The usual courtesy discount is extended only to recognized booksellers who offer reciprocal opportunities from their catalogues or stock. We have 24 hour telephone answering, and a Fax machine for receipt of orders or messages. Catalogue orders should be e-mailed to: [email protected] We do not maintain an open bookshop, and a considerable portion of our literature inventory is situated in our adjunct office and warehouse in Hamden, CT. Hence, a minimum of 24 hours notice is necessary prior to some items in this catalogue being made available for shipping or inspection (by appointment) in our main offices on Temple Street. We accept payment via Mastercard or Visa, and require the account number, expiration date, CVC code, full billing name, address and telephone number in order to process payment. Institutional billing requirements may, as always, be accommodated upon request. ________________________________________________________________ We invite you to visit our web site www.williamreesecompany.com where over thirty-five thousand items from our inventory are searchable and may be ordered directly via a secure server. Images associated with many items from this catalogue are also posted on our web site, and significant new acquisitions are posted there long before they appear on any of the collective databases. Those wishing to receive e-mail notification of the posting of new catalogues and lists to our website may request same by forwarding expressions of interest to [email protected] ___________________________________________________________________ William Reese Company 409 Temple Street New Haven, CT. 06511 USA Phone: 203.789.8081 Fax: 203.865.7653 e-mail: [email protected] Members ABAA and ILAB 1. Agee, James: “NOA NOA” DREHBUCH VON .... [Np. nd]. [1],163 leaves. Quarto. Carbon typescript, on rectos only, of onionskin stock. Bradbound in script binder with typed label. Binder a bit tanned at edges, with a bit of loss to the bottom edge of the label, otherwise very good. A translation into German (translator unidentified) of Agee’s unproduced original screenplay about the life of Gauguin. Accompanied by an undated draft, in photocopy, of the collabora- tive revised draft of the original by Agee and Charles O’Neal (outer leaves somewhat foxed) with the stamp of Reece Halsey Agency. $185. 2. Aldrich, Thomas Bailey: MERCEDES A DRAMA IN TWO ACTS AS PERFORMED AT PALMER’S THEATRE Boston & New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1894. Gilt decorated blue cloth, t.e.g. Spine darkened and a little frayed at extremities, short tear and crease to front free endsheet, else good. With Richard W. Gilder’s tiny book label. Revised edition, originally published in Mercedes, And Other Lyrics (1884). A decent as- sociation copy, inscribed by the author on the front blank: “Mr. R.W. Gilder, With the kindest regards.” The recipient, Richard Watson Gilder (1844-1909) was both a poet, and editor- in-chief of the Century Monthly Magazine. BAL 369. $250. Important Variant Text 3. Allen, Woody: DON’T DRINK THE WATER. New York. [1966]. [1],51,32,38 leaves (foli- ated in act/scene sequence). Quarto. Mimeographed typescript, printed on rectos only. Boltbound in stiff Hart Stenographic Bureau gilt-lettered wrappers. Upper wrapper heavily creased, particularly across the lower fore-corner, relevant notations throughout (see below), otherwise very good. A production script for Woody Allen’s first Broadway play, preceding, and the basis for, his first book publication a year later. This copy has frequent annotations throughout correspond- ing to the character ‘Warren’ (later revised to ‘Walter’) Hollander, who was played by Lou Jacobi in the first New York run, directed by Stanley Prager, at the Morosco Theatre, 17 November 1966 – 20 January 1968. Laid into this copy is a somewhat tattered Western Union telegram from Woody Allen to Jacobi, dated 17 November 1966 (the date of the opening), stating simply “You will always be the world’s funniest human.” As was evidenced by mate- rial attending another copy of an early production draft of this play sold by this firm in 2003, between the Philadelphia and Boston previews, and the Broadway run, the play underwent considerable revision. According to Tom Foral, who was cast in the role of Mr. Chambers for the Philadelphia and Boston runs, and for the first performances on Broadway: “Before opening on Broadway at The Morosco Theatre ...eleven more of us were given two weeks notice. We opened AND WERE REVIEWED. Then the unfortunate eleven left the company ...[then a] scaled down version of the play ran for two years. Neither the reviewers nor the public was ever aware that the show running was not the show that had been reviewed....” This script collates quite closely to the unrevised state of that early script (though we no longer have access to it for precise textual comparison), and is at very wide variance from the final state of the text as printed in the Samuel French acting edition currently in print (a copy is included for comparison). An important state of the text of the first produced/ published play by the brilliant film-maker, humorist and playwright. It was adapted to film in 1969 (without Allen’s participation); Allen then directed his own adaptation as a made-for- television film in 1994. $1750. 4. Allen, Woody [sourcework & screenwriter]: “PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM” SCREENPLAY BY ...BASED ON A PLAY BY.... [Los Angeles]: Paramount Pictures / APJAC Productions, nd. but no earlier than 27 September 1971]. [1],120 leaves. Quarto. Mechanically reproduced type- script, printed on rectos only of white, salmon, and green stock. Bradbound in printed studio wrappers. Ink name on upper wrapper, a few notes on title and scattered in text; very good. A “revised shooting script” of Allen’s own film adaptation of his 1969 play. Charles Grodin had written at least one draft of an earlier adaptation for the same production company. This copy includes dated revises on colored stock spanning 20 – 27 September. The film was released in May 1972, was directed by Herbert Ross, and starred Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Jerry Lacy, Viva, Joy Bang, et al. This copy bears the ink name “Jerry Lacy” on the upper wrapper (he played Bogart in the film) and contact info for Joy Bang and other annotations in the same hand. Actual pre-production scripts by Allen or for films based on his source works tend to be rather uncommon, their circulation being largely confined to those actually involved directly in production. $1500. 5. [Almanac – French]: ÉTRENNES MIGNONES, CURIEUSES ET UTILES, AVEC PLUSSIEURS AUGMENTATIONS & CORREC- TIONS, POUR L’ANNEE MIL SEPT CENT SOIXANTE-QUATORZE. Paris: Chez Claude-Jacques-Charles & Pierre-Francois Durand, 1774. [108]pp. plus two folding maps. 32mo. Contemporary red French morocco, heavily decorated in gilt, a.e.g. Trivial foxing to endleaves, light tanning and minimal fraying to extended edges of folding maps, otherwise a fine copy. First edition of this almanac, beautifully bound, from the Weston Library of the Earls of Bradford, with the bookplate. Many of the text leaves are interleaved with elegantly engraved tables, with decorative margins, for recording profits and losses. $750. 6. [American Theatre Wing]: [Delano, Harvey (ed)]: AMERICAN THEATRE WING STAGE DOOR CANTEEN OF WASHINGTON ORGANIZATION REGULATIONS FIRE AND AIR RAID RULES INSTRUCTIONS. [Np]: American Theatre Wing War Service, Inc., [nd. but ca. 1942]. 56pp. Quarto. Stiff printed wrappers. Light smudging to wrappers, but near fine. First edition. A comprehensive manual for the organization and running of the Washington DC version of the Canteen, adapted from the manual for the NYC Canteen by Harvey Delano. The Stage Door Canteen was started and directed by The American Theatre Wing at the beginning of WWII. Its purpose was to provide a safe, free place where soldiers, Marines, sailors and merchant seamen could come, relax, socialize and dance with young women volunteers. Often entertainment was provided by top entertainers of the day who volunteered their services. Canteens were located in New York, Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Cleveland, San Francisco and other major cities in the U.S., and toward the end of the war in London and Paris. The Canteens were closed shortly after the war ended, but in the three and a half years of their operation, the Stage Door Canteens had an enormous influence on popular culture, inspiring a weekly radio show on the Columbia Network and a 1943 motion picture, both called “Stage Door Canteen” and produced in association with the American Theatre Wing. These, along with Irving Berlin’s hugely popular war song “I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen,” help the Canteen’s legacy live on today. According to several accounts, all of the records for all of the Canteens were stored in a garage which subse- quently burned to the ground. As a consequence, material such as this item take on extra significance. No copies are recorded in OCLC, although there is a copy at Yale and a copy now in British Canteen archive in the UK.