Hardcover. NY, Macmillan Company, 1st, 1914, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Poor, Hardcover, maroon cloth with gilt lettering on spine. 164 pages plus 5 pages of publisher's ads. Remnants of torn dust jacket laid in at rear. From reviews on flap: "An effective presentation of modern life in New York City" ... "One of the most sparkling comedies of recent years, depicting life among the artists in Manhattan..." One of only two plays written by this poet. Clean copy.
Hardcover. Boston, Little, Brown & Co, 1st, 1982, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 242 pages, illustrated throughout in color and b&w. Light edge wear, rubbing to dust jacket. Clean, tight copy.
Hardcover. NY, Aperture , 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket with minor wear. 315 pages illustrated in color and b&w. Incorporates images of performances and rehearsals, along with candid photographs by many important photographers, including Imogen Cunningham, Arnold Eagle, Peter Hujar, James Klosty, Annie Leibovitz, Barbara Morgan, and Max Waldman. The book also features examples of Cunningham's choreographic notes, as well as scores, and set and costume designs by the artists with whom he has collaborated over the years. Top corner bumped, causing a mild crease to corner of pages. DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.
Hardcover. NY, George Braziller, 1st, 1956, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Fair, Hardcover in a worn, chipped dust jacket. 257 pages, b&w illustrations. The Turbulent And Colorful History - 400 years long of the clown Harlequin - one of the most magical figures ever created in the theatre. No markings.
Softcover. West LafayetteIN, Bordighera, 1st, 1999, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 224 pages, b&w illustrations. The biography of an Italian actress, playwright, and lecturer. Clean copy.
Softcover. Libreria Musicale Italiana, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 215 pages, b&w illustrations. A history of the diaspora of Neapolitan musicians in New York. This book reviews the period from the unification of Italy to the fascist era through significant Neapolitan performers such as Gilda Mignonette and Enrico Caruso. It traces the transformation of a popular tradition written in dialect into a popular tradition, written in Italian, that contributed to the production of 'American' identity. PLEASE NOTE: ITALIAN TEXT. Simona Frasca is a lecturer on early sound reproduction and Italian migration, and a freelance music journalist. She hold a doctorate in History and Analysis of Musical Culture from La Sapienza University in Rome. Mild sunning to wraps, clean copy.
Softcover. Charleston SC, Arcadia Publishing, 1st, 1999, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 128 pages. INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR on the half-title page. Italian-American theatre sprang to life in New York City shortly after waves of Italian immigrants poured into this country in the 1870's. The mass migration brought both the performers and the audiences necessary for theatrical entertainment. Hungry for recognition, support, and social exchange, the men and women from Italy formed amateur theatrical clubs as one way of satisfying emotional needs. By 1900, the community had produced the major forces that created the Italian-American theatre of the ensuing decades. In The Italian-American Immigrant Theatre of New York City, author Emelise Aleandri regenerates the excitement of the stage through striking photographs, programs, and other memorabilia generously loaned by families of the theatre community. She follows the fortunes of the earliest nineteenth-century companies and introduces those that arose in the twentieth-century. Within these pages are scenes of comedy, tragedy, vaudeville, and radio, featuring stars such as Mimi Cecchini, Guglielmo Ricciardi, Concetta Arcamone, Antonio Maiori, Rita Berti, Farfariello, and Olga Barbato. Clean copy.
Hardcover. Franklin Center PA, The Franklin Library, 1st, 1987, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover in decorated red leather. This limited first edition has been signed by Arthur Miller exclusively for members of the The Signed First Edition Society. All edges gilt, marbled endpapers, sewn-in silk bookmarker. Clean, fresh and bright. His aurobiography. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Arthur Miller tells his life story with humor, passion, and candor. Beginning with his childhood and continuing through his life and career telling of both successes and failures. Miller gives colorful portraits of those people who touched his life, such as Marilyn Monroe, Orson Wells, Lucky Luciano, Clark Gable, Tennessee Williams, John F. Kennedy, Mikhail Gorbachev, and many more. Clean, bright copy.
Hardcover. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 2nd printing, 1957, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 73 pages. Third book in the Poets' Theatre Series. Dark blue cloth covers, white titles to spine dust jacket with b&w illustration. Slight soiling to dust jacket, clean boards, pages crisp and unmarked; a very clean, tight copy.
Hardcover. Baton Rouge, Claitor's Publishing, 1st, 1987, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 305 pages, illustrated in b&w. Bookplate SIGNED BY CALVERT AND RAUSCHER on a bookplate pasted to inside cover. In a bright dust jacket, unclipped.
Hardcover. Paris, Garnier, 1911, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 625 pages, original blue paper wrappers here bound in half leather and marbled boards, spines with raised ribs and gilt design, floral end papers. Top edge gilt, 4 color plates.
Hardcover. New York , Random House , 1st, 1954, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 122 pages, b&w photographs from the 1953 play. In a very good dust jacket that's unclipped. Bright, clean copy.
Hardcover. Lexington KY, University Press of Kentucky, 1st, 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 240 pages, in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. A collection of plays performed in Louisville. Edited by Michael Bigelow Dixon and Michele Volansky. Including plays by: Wendell Berry, Roy Blount, Jr., Harry Crews, and Marsha Norman. INSCRIBED BY CREWS on the front fly leaf to poet friend Ed Hyland: "For Ed - Best wishes for resilience in your work. Keep your ass in the chair - Harry Crews". The Crews play "Blood Issue" is included. Bright, clean copy.
Hardcover. Winnipeg Canada, Blizzard Publishing, 1st, 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 92 pages. SIGNED BY FINDLEY on title page. Slight wear to dust jacket with old price-sticker to back cover, else a very nice, tight, clean copy.
Hardcover. New York, Pantheon Books, 1st, 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 80 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Very clean and tight copy. Light edgewear to cover edges.
Softcover. NY, Theatre Communications Group, 2nd printing, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 58 pages. SIGNED BY ACTRESS CHERRY JONES on title page. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to wrappers.
softcover. New York, Theatre Communications Group, reprint, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 127 pages. Softcover. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to wrappers.
Hardcover. NY, Grove Press, 1st, 1965, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, b&w photos of stage performers, 115 pages. First printing. Name on front fly leaf otherwise clean.
Hardcover. NY/London, Theatre Arts/W. Heinemann, reprint, 1956, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, blue cloth with faded gilt lettering on spine, 90 pages. Written when Michael Redgrave was at the height of his power and acclaim, The Actor's Ways and Means is a spirited and knowledgeable account of the most influential ideas about the art and craft of acting. Drawing on his own direct experience, Redgrave evaluates the influence of famous actors and directors, from Copeau to Stanislavski, from Meyerhold to Edward Gordon Craig. Illustrated with b&w photos of Redgrave in performance. Checkmark on front flyleaf, otherwise clean.
Hardcover. NY, Brentano's, 2nd Ed., 1922, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, blue cloth stamped with gilt design and lettering, 346 pages with index. Color frontis plus 3 color plates, many halftone photos throughout. This volume examines the modern Russian theatre and its restless spirit, showing how bold direction, new forms, and a sense of discovery reshaped performances. It ties together productions from Moscow's leading houses to the London- and New York-based stages where this energy found a global audience. The book foregrounds how artists, designers, and actors worked together to create moments that felt both experimental and deeply musical, often transforming familiar stories through striking staging and rhythm. Originally published 2 years earlier by Little, Brown. This is the slightly revised Second Edition with illustrations. Spine darkened, bookplate on second prelim page, otherwise clean.
Hardcover. NY, W.W. Norton, 1st, 1971, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn dust jacket, 233 pages, b&w illustrations. Foreword by Herschel Bernardi. A history of the Yiddish stage which involves the Bernardi family in the age of the intellectual on the Lower East Side. Clean copy.
Hardcover. Boston, Little, Brown, and Company, reprint, 1928, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover in black cloth with gilt lettering on spine, 298 pages. A collection of articles about the theater by Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966), a stage designer and theatrical producer and director. Although he directed only a handful of plays, "his controversial theories of scene design and stagecraft gave him eminence in the European and American theater" (The New York Times). For instance, he favored three-dimensional stage effects and more innovative lighting than the traditional footlights. Craig argues that theatre is not just a form of entertainment, but a powerful medium for social and political change. He advocates for a new kind of theatre that is not bound by traditional conventions and that challenges the audience's expectations. Craig also emphasizes the importance of the actor's body and movement, and he proposes new techniques for training actors to be more expressive and dynamic on stage. Previous owner's inscription on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.
Hardcover. NY, Alfred A. Knopf, 1st, 1953, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a worn, chipped dust jacket, 411 pages plus index. This book was written between 1946 and 1952, and first published in 1953. It is now widely regarded as the standard portrait of the European and American theater in the turbulent and seminal years following World War II. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.
Hardcover. NY, Stein and Day, 1st US, 1967, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 320 pages, b&w illustrations. Translated from the Russian, compiled and edited by Nina Froud and James Hanley. This is the first complete publication in the West of the great operatic basso's life. Clean copy.
Hardcover. NY, McGraw Hill, reprint, 1994, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards, 601 pages. Detailing production design for theater, opera, and ballet, Designing and Drawing for the Theater provides a professional picture and encyclopedic reference of the design process. Lavishly illustrated with detailed lined drawings and photographs, the book conveys the beauty and excitement of production design. To further convey a real-life picture of the design process, each chapter is followed by a conversation with an outstanding designer working in today's theater. Old price label on rear cover, otherwise clean.
Hardcover. NY, Henry Holt , 1st, 2018, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 386 pages,b&w illustrations. They stand at the apex of the great age of songwriting, the creators of the classic Broadway musicals Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music, whose songs have never lost their popularity or emotional power. Even before they joined forces, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had written dozens of Broadway shows, but together they pioneered a new art form: the serious musical play. Their songs and dance numbers served to advance the drama and reveal character, a sharp break from the past and the template on which all future musicals would be built. Todd S. Purdum's portrait of these two men, their creative process, and their groundbreaking innovations will captivate lovers of musical theater, lovers of the classic American songbook, and young lovers wherever they are. Clean copy.
Hardcover. NY, Random House, 1st, 1937, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, blue cloth with bright gilt stamping, 124 pages. Top edge stained red. Satirical political musical with score by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart. Illustrated with photographs from the original staged production. No printing stated, copyright page states 1937. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise a clean, bright copy, no dust jacket.
Hardcover. NY, Samuel French, reprint, 1957, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, blue cloth in a lightly worn and chipped dust jacket. B&w illustrations. A leading theatrical designer of his day, the Russian-born author (whose credits included many important productions for the Group Theatre and the Theatre Guild in the 1930s) also designed costumes, was a lighting director, and, later in life, a teacher of theatre. In this volume, an acknowledged classic, he "presents a vivid panorama of stage and screen technique, showing how styles of production change constantly in response to new audiences." It is the first adequate study of the social meaning of stage production. It analyzes the artistic relation of the stage to the screen. It describes the effect of new political ideologies on dramatic life and thought.
Hardcover. London, Hodder & Stoughton, nd (1913), Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, purple cloth covers with elaborate gilt design featuring 3 ladies drinking tea, 197 pages. 17 color illustrations plus frontispiece by Hugh Thomson, all tipped in and with tissue guards. Previous owner's inscription front end paper. Corners lightly rubbed, spine wear, light stain to rear cover. No date but assumed 1920s and first illustrated thus.
Hardcover. Boston, Little Brown , 1st, 1966, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, 319 pages, b&w photos. In a bright, unclipped dust jacket with a couple closed tears, mild soil.
Hardcover. New York, Cheshire House, 1st, 1932, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 147 pages. Half leather with marbled boards. Title in gilt on sun faded spine. Illustrated with wood engravings by Freda Bone. This being #406 of 1200 copies.
Hardcover. New York, Knopf, 1st US, 1968, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 398 pages. Illustrated with 24 pages of black & white photographs. Light foxing to page fore edges. Light wear to price clipped dust jacket. Clean, tight copy.
Hardcover. Charlottesville, University of Virginia, 1st Thus, 1977, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 106 pages. A Play with black & white illustrations by Faulkner. Clean, tight copy. Introduction by Noel Polk. In a bright yellow dust jacket.
Hardcover. New York, Grove Press, 1st, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 3 hardcovers ( Voyage, Shipwreck, Salvage) in pictorial slipcase - Still in original shrinkwrap. A three part play by the author of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
Hardcover. Milano, Skira, 1st, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 320 pages. Hardcover. Profusely illustrated in full color. Clean, tight copy. This catalog of over three hundred artworks related to the Saisons Russes between 1909 and 1929 is the official companion to an exhibition in Monte Carlo. The legendary productions are brought to life through stage designs, costumes, paintings, sculptures, photographs, and programs. The artwork comes from a wide variety of public and private collections, including the Fokine collection in the St. Petersburg Theatre Museum.
Hardcover. New York, Pantheon, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 1330 pages. Hardcover. Small red remainder mark on bottom edge. Light wear. Clean, tight copy.
Hardcover. London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1st Thus, 1912, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 198 pages. Hardcover. Green cloth boards with gilt decoration to front cover and spine. 25 tipped-in full color plates and black & white images by Hugh Thomson. Hinges intact but tender. Light wear. Clean, tight copy.
Hardcover. Exeter, Robinson and Towle, 1st, 1833, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, 426 pages. Hardcover. Brown leather with title in gilt on spine. Previous owners name on front endpaper. Illustrated with black & white engravings. Book measures: 6.25" H X 3.75" W. Pages with light to moderate foxing throughout. Front cover hinge cracked - cover holding with original binding strings.
Softcover. Louisville KY, Cole Brothers Circus, 1st, 1949, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, softcover, 20 page circus promotional brochure. 16 pages with 60 b&w photographs featuring behind the scenes circus activity- setting up the big top, loading the train, daily life of performers, etc. Light edgewear.
Record # 850032
Price: $80.00
Used, Rare & Antiquarian Theater Books
Theater books in used, rare, and out-of-print editions cover stage history, drama, musicals, and world puppet traditions. The shelf gathers play collections, critical studies, and illustrated volumes from private libraries. Titles reach from the Soviet stage and Broadway to burlesque, the avant-garde, and Indonesian wayang golek.
Recent titles include Michael Kantor and Laurence Maslon's Broadway: The American Musical, Amiri Baraka's The Motion of History and Other Plays, Brian Friel's Three Plays After, and Mimi Herbert's Voices of the Puppet Masters, alongside F. Scott Fitzgerald's screenplay for Three Comrades.
Condition and availability vary with used and rare stock, and out-of-print play collections and illustrated volumes are often single copies that do not last long. If one catches your eye, order it online.
 "Van Zorn: A Comedy in Three Acts by: Robinson, Edwin Arlington")
 "Far From Denmark by: Martins, Peter; Cornfield, Robert")
 "Merce Cunningham: Fifty Years by: Vaughan David and Melissa Harris")
 "Harlequin or The Rise and Fall of a Bergamask Rogue by: Niklaus, Thelma")
 "Franca Rame: A Woman on Stage by: Walter Valeri")
 "Birds of Passage: I Musicisti Napolani a New York 1895-1940 ITALIAN TEXT) by: Frasca, Simona")
 "Italian-American Immigrant Theatre of New York City (INSCRIBED COPY) by: Emelie Aleandri")
 "Timebends (SIGNED COPY) by: Miller, Arthur")
 "Passages from Finnegan's Wake: A Free Adaptation for the Theater by: Joyce, James and Mary Manning (ed.)")
 "John Calvert: Magic and Adventures Around the World (SIGNED COPY) by: Rauscher, William V.")
 "Theatre Complet de J. Racine - Precede de la Vie de L'Auteur by: Racine, J.")
 "In the Summer House by: Bowles, Jane")
 "By Southern Playwrights: Plays from Actors Theatre of Louisville (SIGNED BY HARRY CREWS) by: Crews, Harry and others")
 "Stillborn Lover, The (SIGNED COPY) by: Findley, Timothy")
 "Oleanna: A Play by: Mamet, David")
 "Doubt: A Parable by: Shanley, John Patrick")
 "Caroline, or Change: A Musical by: Tesori, Jeanine")
 "Inadmissible Evidence by: John Osborne")
 "The Actor's Ways and Means by: Michael Redgrave")
 "The Russian Theatre by: Oliver M. Sayler")
 "My Father, the Actor by: Bernardi, Jack")
 "The Theatre-Advancing by: Craig, Edward Gordon")
 "In Search of Theater by: Eric Bentley")
 "Chaliapin: An Autobiography as Told to Maxim Gorky by: Fyodor Ivanovich Chaliapin / Maxim Gorky")
 "Designing and Drawing for the Theatre by: Lynn Pecktal")
 "Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution by: Todd S. Purdum")
 "I'D RATHER BE RIGHT: A Musical Revue by: Kaufman, George S., Moss Hart")
 "New Theatres for Old by: Gorelik, Mordecai")
 "Quality Street, a Comedy in Four Acts by: Barrie, J. M. and Hugh Thomson")
 "Cristianis, The - The Story of the World's Most Colorful Circus Family by: Hubler, Richard")
 "Maides Tragedy, The by: Beaumont, Francis/John Fletcher")
 "Gordon Craig by: Craig, Edward")
 "Marionettes, The by: Faulkner, William")
 "Coast of Utopia, The: Voyage/Shipwreck/Salvage by: Stoppard, Tom")
 "Feast of Wonders - Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, A by: Bowlt, John E./Zelfira Tregulova/Nathalie Rosticher Giordano")
 "Reading Dance: A Gathering of Memoirs, Reportage, Criticism, Profiles, Interviews, and Some Uncategorizable Extras by: Gottlieb (editor), Robert")
 "She Stoops to Conquer or The Mistakes of a Night by: Goldsmith, Oliver/Hugh Thomson")
 "Tales of the Drama: Founded on The Tragedies of Shakespeare, Massinger, Shirley, Rowe, Murphy, Lillo, and Moore, and on the Comedies of Steele, Farquhar, Cumberland, Bickertaff, Goldsmith, and Mrs. Cowley")
 "Sawdust Trail - Official Tour of Cole Brothers Circus for Season of 1949 by: Cole Brothers Circus")