WITH HANDWRITTEN HAMLET QUOTATION BY THE AUTHOR.

TYNAN, Kenneth ~ He That Plays the King. A View of the Theatre.

FIRST UK PRINTING. Longmans, Green and Co Ltd., London: 1950.

8vo., bright red cloth with contrasting painted black label to spine gilt; upper edge stained red; together in the unclipped pictorial dustwrapper (12/6 net to front flap) designed by R. A. Maynard; with black and white frontis photograph showing 'Akh-na-ton / The Prototype'; THE BOOK near-fine, square and tight with light bumping to spine tips, and light spotting to the prelims/outer edges of the text block; THE WRAPPER very good plus, lightly spotted and browned, particularly to the lower panel, with some rubbing and a little loss to tips of spine and folds, none affecting lettering; and a 3cm closed tear to the front flap fold. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First UK edition. This copy signed and lined with an adapted Hamlet quotation by the author to the ffep: "Thou carest not so inoculate / our [?] old stock but we shall / relish of it / Kenneth Tynan". The original quotation reads: You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not." (Act 3, Scene 1). Tynan's first book, written when he was just 23, which takes as its subject heroic drama and acting, delving into the question of why audiences were beginning to turn away from hero worship. Tynan (1927-1980) loved Hamlet, having first played the lead role at the age of sixteen. Outspoken and flamboyant from an early age, and advocating repealing laws against homosexuality, he was hired as a theatre critic for the Evening Standard and the Observer, and became a fearsome reviewer. He was later appointed the new National Theatre Company's literary manager in 1963. An important contribution to dramatic criticism.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Near Fine
JACKET: Very Good +