TOM STOPPARD FIRST EDITIONS AT
ASH RARE BOOKS
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UNITED KINGDOM

London : Faber & Faber, (1983). A reprint of the original 1971 edition. “The dialogue operates like a railway junction with a madman switching over the points” (Irving Wardle in The Times). First performed at the Ambiance Lunch-Hour Theatre Club, “with outstanding success” in 1970, with Prunella Scales and Stephen Moore in the leading parts.
Post 8vo (20cm). (48)pp. Original decorative wrappers; a touch sunned; text lightly tanned, but a good copy of a fragile production. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

£20

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London : Faber & Faber, (1972). First edition : the uncommon hardback issue. “Tom Stoppard ... works with a brilliance, an intellectual agility, and a capacity of mind as well as of wit that have no rival on the contemporary stage” (Harold Hobson in the Sunday Times review).
Post 8vo (21cm). (92)pp. Original red boards, blocked and lettered in gilt; a very good copy indeed in the dust-jacket – the jacket also very good indeed.

SOLD

London : Faber & Faber, (1972). The first reprint of the original 1972 edition. “Tom Stoppard ... works with a brilliance, an intellectual agility, and a capacity of mind as well as of wit that have no rival on the contemporary stage” (Harold Hobson in the Sunday Times review).
Post 8vo (20cm). (92),[iv]pp. Original wrappers; a few faint signs of age and use, but a very good copy. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

£20

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New York : Grove Press, [1974]. First American edition. Signed by Tom Stoppard on the front free endpaper. A review copy, with the publisher’s slip loosely inserted – the slip revealing that the actual publication date was 1974, to coincide with the first American production of the play in that year, and not the 1972 of the copyright date, which has confused countless cataloguers. “Simply dazzling. It takes your breath away with its sheer exuberance of literacy, its cascade of words and conspicuous display of intellect. It is also extraordinarily funny” (Clive Barnes in the New York Times, 20th February 1974).
Post 8vo (22cm). (92),[iv]pp. Music. Original black cloth, lettered in gilt; a very good, bright, sound and clean copy in the photographic dust-jacket (Michael Hordern and Diana Rigg in the original London production) – the jacket also very good. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

SOLD

London : Faber & Faber, (1996). First Faber Library edition. “In this dark, exuberant comedy, Stoppard brilliantly parodies the philosophy lecture, the detective thriller, the comedy of manners, and the Whitehall farce”. This attractively produced hardback edition in the Faber Library series contains the revised 1986 text.
Post 8vo (21cm). [viii],(88)pp. Original black boards, lettered in gilt; a vey good copy in the dust-jacket – the jacket just faintly sunned, but also very good. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), author of “Double Act : A Life of Tom Stoppard” in 2002.

£25

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New York : Grove Press, (1976). First American edition. Signed by Tom Stoppard on the front free endpaper. Interlinked plays always performed together – sexual indiscretion in parliamentary places – “Tom Stoppard again unrolls a dazzling carpet of words to provide us with a joyous evening. They are the happiest 85 minutes available in the West End just now. Inspired fantasy, blissful entertainment!” – Felix Barker on the London production, with Luan Peters, Edward de Souza, Peter Bowles, etc.
Post 8vo (21cm). (76),[iv]pp. Original black cloth, lettered in silver; tiny rim of sunning at foot of spine, but otherwise a sparkling copy in the Kenneth R. Deardoff dust-jacket – a design in lilac and black – the lilac inevitably a little sunned at spine, but the jacket otherwise very good and without wear. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

SOLD

New York : Grove Press, (1979). First American edition : the wrappers issue. Stoppard in darkest Africa – a despot not unlike Idi Amin, communist-backed revolution, a mine-owner, a couple of contrasting journalists, etc. “Fleet Street gets a well-aimed kick in the pants” began “The Stage” review of the original 1978 London production, with John Thaw, Diana Rigg, etc.
Post 8vo (21cm). x,113,[v]pp. Original wrappers in a design by Peter Morance; very good. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

£20

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London : Faber & Faber, (1991). First edition : the hardback issue. Stoppard’s radio play, the scenes alternating between the India of 1930 and the England of 1990. Dedicated to Felicity Kendal, who played Flora Crewe in the original BBC Radio 3 broadcast in April 1991.
Post 8vo (21cm). [viii],(86),[ii]pp. Original blue boards, lettered in white; text just faintly tanned, but a very good copy indeed in the Tania Willis dust-jacket – the jacket also very good indeed.

£40

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London : Faber & Faber, (2004). First edition. Stoppard, Pirandello, madness and sanity. First performed at the Donmar Warehouse in April 2004, with Francesca Annis, etc.
Post 8vo (20cm). [viii],(66),[vi]pp. Original wrappers; very good. From the collection of Professor Ira Nadel (1943-2021), Stoppard’s biographer.

£25

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