GENET, Jean.

£1,750 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Les Nègres. First edition, limited issue, number 2,150 of 3,200 copies from a total edition of 3,535, this copy warmly inscribed by the author on the dedication page, "Décembre 64, A Henri, Avec le plus profonde affection, Jean, Que notre amitié resté pour toi toujours si belle malgré les tourments de la vie".The inscription reads, "To Henri, with deepest affection, Jean, may our friendship remain always so beautiful for you despite the torments of life" (our translation).On 12 October 1955, Le Figaro announced that the Belgian actor and director Raymond Rouleau had commissioned Genet to write a play for Black actors. The subsequent work was dedicated to Genet's lover, the German-Algerian acrobat Abdallah Bentaga. Les Nègres opened under the direction of Roger Blin at the Théâtre de Lutèce on 28 October 1959 and was the longest-running off-Broadway play of the 1960s. It played to full houses every evening until its close on 4 April 1960 and won the Grand Prix de la Critique for 1959.The total edition comprised 3,200 copies numbered 1 to 3,200; 250 copies hors commerce marked "HC"; 50 copies on japon reserved for the author; 32 copies marked i to xxxii; and three copies hors commerce reserved for the publishers.

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