Between the Covers

Hardcover. Original typescript in red and black. Quarto. 129 leaves, rectos only. [6], 42, [1], 45, [1], 34. Inserted frontispiece is an original pen and ink drawing Signed by Fred G. Cooper with his "FGC" monogram. Bound in contemporary red cloth over boards. Worn and lightly stained, with wear on the cloth, binding is fair, internally near fine.

A typescript by one of the most successful English playwrights of the era, an apparent record of the play as it was performed in New York, likely intended for presentation, probably to Van Druten, and including a page of original pen and ink sketches bound in as a frontispiece. Accompanying the typescript is a first edition of the printed version of the play (London: October 1928), which records the play as it was performed in London at The Arts Theatre Club on September 26th, 1928. The printed version shows many variations from this typescript.

The form of the typescript (on fine quality laid paper, watermarked "Normandy Vellum" and "France") suggests that it was a unique copy, likely produced for presentation. The full page of sketches by Cooper, one of the 20th Century's great under-appreciated illustrators and designers (see Leslie Cabarga's excellent book, *The Lettering and Graphic Design of F.G. Cooper*) is a riot of characters and activity, hijinks and hilarity. Vignettes include a martini shaker, golf clubs, a rugby player, a black "mammy," another black servant, a burglar, a singing chorus of sad policemen, a lighthouse, the Washington Monument, an 18th Century British admiral, a butler delivering newspapers, sailors diving off a ship to save a dog, a crossword puzzle, a piece of pie, and a large central image of a tuxedoed swell playing a grand piano surrounded by two lines of music, as well as a few others. What these have to do with the play (or perhaps with Van Druten's collected works) we have yet to determine.

Van Druten was an English playwright and theatre director who began his career in London, and later emigrated to America in 1939 or 1940, where he settled in California's Coachella Valley with a male companion. His 1951 play *I Am a Camera* adapted from Christopher Isherwood's short stories, *Goodbye to Berlin* was the basis for the Kander and Ebb musical, *Cabaret*.

Van Druten died at Indio, California in 1957 and left his estate to his companion. This was sourced in eastern California, likely purchased from Van Druten's estate.

Item #439554