Between the Covers

Hardcover. First edition, deluxe limited issue. Tall octavo. Full Japanese vellum with calf spine label gilt, in original slipcase. Boards foxed, as usual, else a near fine copy in worn, but sound, very good numbered slipcase, with evidence of neat, older repairs, the whole housed in a custom cloth chemise and quarter morocco and cloth slipcase. Of a limited edition of 775 copies Signed by O'Neill, this is copy number 20 of 25 copies reserved for the publisher and author, and is Inscribed by Horace Liveright to Ernest Boyd: "To my dear Ernest – this very special copy is most affectionately dedicated by his admiring friend – and with added admiration for a certain girl called Madeleine who is responsible for the gift – and, before it's too late – a happy birthday. Horace Liveright." Both Boyd and O’Neill were Irish-American writers, and co-editors of the short-lived literary journal *The American Spectator*. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, *Strange Interlude* included many innovative stage techniques such as stream-of-consciousness soliloquies and asides. The limited edition elaborately prints these interludes in blue ink, while the rest of the text is in black (the trade edition has all text in black). Basis for the 1932 Robert Z. Leonard-directed film featuring Norma Shearer and Clark Gable, as well as a 1988 television version directed by Herbert Wise and with a splendid cast headed by Kenneth Branagh. A superb association copy.

Item #87648