

i) the director's working copy of the play, a typescript with hundreds of manuscript annotations including interpretations of lines and advice to actors on lines and movements, with additional notes, including Blake's notes on conversations with beckett ("the answer to the question how many grains of corn make a heap - is - one"), comments on staging and lighting plans, personal notes on the actors and Beckett ("Sam Beckett is against playing to an audience. Each character must emote only the statement."), in pen and pencil on squared exercise paper, in a ring-binder, with an additional sheaf of notes entitled "general Essay on Endgame" loosely inserted, about 250 pages in total, 4to, 1964, some wear, especially to loose sheets
ii) Two printed copies of Endgame: New York, 1958, paperback, inscribed ("for Michael Blake with all good wishes Sam. Beckett Paris Sept 1963"), with annotations by Blake, worn, spine defective; London, 1958, with dust-jacket
iii) Autograph letter signed by Beckett, to Blake, sending him a cheque for 500 francs, 1 page, 4to, Paris, 12 March 1964, with two autograph addressed envelopes and photocopies of a second letter by Beckett
iv) Collection of material relating to the production, including poster, leaflets, invitations, press release, programmes, typed rehearsal schedule, notes and typescripts by Blake, related correspondence (including a letter signed by harold pinter, an autograph letter signed by the actor Jack MacGowran, and a letter of congratulation from the Newsweek journalist Yorick Blumenfeld praising the "creative fusion of humor and pathos" in the production), press cuttings, photographs, and a reel tape with pen inscription seemingly listing contents (including "Fin de Partie (French)"), about 60 items, chiefly in two binders, 1964 some worn
a major collection of working notes and memorabilia relating to an important production of endgame. The production was rehearsed in London in January 1964, and played for a month at the Studio des Champs-Elysées in Paris to packed houses and critical acclaim. Beckett advised on the casting of Patrick Magee and Jack MacGowran as Hamm and Clov, and spent two weeks with the company in rehearsals:
"Beckett positions himself in front of the actors, a few feet away. The producer, Blake, his eyes bright and loving on the action, hunches over elaborate graphs, marks and notes at a nearby table. As the players run through their lines, Beckett pores over the text as though hearing it for the first time. He glares sharply, neutrally, at the action, infrequently prompting." (Clancy Sigal, quoted in Knowlson, p.513)