O'NEILL, Eugene.

£1,250 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Mourning Becomes Electra. First edition, trade impression, presentation copy inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper in blue ink, "To Sophus - with all friendship! Eugene O'Neill Dec. '36 - Seattle". This is a month after O'Neill learned that he had won the Nobel Prize, and Sophus Winther acted as his press contact so that O'Neill could avoid direct contact with the media.Sophus Keith Winther (1893-1983) was a Danish-American novelist and academic. His novels depict the pioneer experience in the Great Plains of America. In 1934 he published a critical study of O'Neill. The two men enjoyed a close friendship, and Winther was one of the first to read Long Day's Journey into Night. Extensive correspondence between the two writers is preserved by the Eugene O'Neill Foundation at Tao House, and at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Yale. When severely ill, O'Neill asked his wife to telephone a Christmas message saying "Tell Sophus... that he's the best friend I ever had" ("The Sophus Winther Collection", Eugene O'Neill Foundation, accessible online).The play, a retelling of the Oresteia by Aeschylus, premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on 26 October 1931.This copy includes a label tipped-in to the reverse of the front free endpaper which notes presentation of the book to Indiana University. This label carries a "Withdrawn" stamp.Provenance: the collection of Steve Forbes, chairman of Forbes Magazine and presidential candidate in the 1996

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