IBSEN, Henrik; OSBORNE, John (trans.).

£575 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Hedda Gabler. First edition, inscribed by Osborne on the front free endpaper to Mary Merall, "To Mary, with love and thanks, John". An autograph letter is also loosely inserted, addressed to Merall and signed by Anthony Page. Merall (1890-1973) starred as Juliana Tesman and Page was the director of the original Osborne production.The adaptation, in which Merall appeared alongside Brian Cox, premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London in the summer of 1972. In the letter, Page includes feedback on her stage performance and praises her as a "rock of artistic constancy". This copy is from the theatre collection of Clive Hirschhorn (b. 1940), who spent decades as the Sunday Express film and theatre critic and whose various histories of Hollywood include The Warner Bros. Story (1978) and The Hollywood Musical (1981). His ownership inscription is pencilled on the front pastedown, dated 1988.

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