COWARD, Noel ~ To-night at 8.30. Complete in three volumes.

FIRST UK PRINTINGS. William Heinemann, London: 1936

8vo., 3 vols; dark purple cloth lettered in gilt to spine; embossed with publisher's device to lower covers; border in blind to upper boards; together in the publisher's dustwrappers, printed in blue and red; each priced 5/-net to front flap; grey endpapers; THE BOOKS very good copies all, minimal spotting to edges and overall toning to the paper stock; the very good WRAPPERS darkened in places, particularly along spine and folds, with some chipping to the tips of spine and folds, largest to head of Vol II; and a couple of short closed tears; fragile; but unrestored internally. The wrappers are protected in removable Brodart archival covers. First UK editions, first printings. The collected set of nine one-act plays which first appeared in London in 1936 with Coward and Gertrude Lawrence in the starring roles. A tenth play, 'Star Chamber' was dropped after one performance. Part-comic, part-serious, the plays also featured music and songs written by Coward, who was keen to work with Lawrence after a positive public response to 'Private Lives'. In order, the plays depict: 'We were Dancing': a married woman who falls in love with a divorced man at a dance and plans to emigrate to Australia with him. 'The Astonished Heart' in which a psychiatrist falls in love with his wife's friend. 'Red Peppers': A husband and wife act bicker in between musical performances. 'Hands Across the Sea' caricaturing Coward's friends Lord Louis Mountbatten and his wife Edwina. 'Fumed Oak': A down-and-out salesman walks out on his family. 'Shadow Play': a marriage on the brink of collapse. 'Ways and Means': concerning an heiress and her gambling husband. 'Still life': a married man and a physician begin a love affair. and 'Family Album': a Victorian family gathered together at the funeral of a patriarchal father. Scarce, both as a set and in the wrappers.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Very Good
JACKET: Very Good