Modern & Modern British Day Auction including Property from the Collection of Erich & Senta Goeritz

Sir Jacob Epstein 1880 - 1959 Second Portrait of George Bernard Shaw signed Epstein (on the reverse) bronze height (not including base): 40cm.; 15¾in. height (including base): 53cm.; 21in. Conceived in 1934.

View 1 of Lot 526: Second Portrait of George Bernard Shaw

second portrait of george bernard shaw

Books, Manuscripts & Objects from Three Important Collections

George Bernard Shaw A collection, comprising: i-iv) Four letters (two autograph and two typed) signed, to Ernest Hieatt of St Albans District Council, complaining repeatedly and in extravagant and witty terms about the smells emanating from a rubbish dump near his home in rural Hertfordshire ("...I was very strongly reminded of the dump by the fumes of the island volcano Stromboli, which is believed by the islanders to communicate directly with hell..."), 7 pages, various sizes, Ayot St Lawrence, Herts., and Whitehall Court, London, 24 October 1927–7 July 1931 "...I returned in May and found the Dump in full blast. This time, however, a much more dangerous nuisance that the smell, horrible as that is, has developed. To explain its gravity is beyond my literary powers; therefore I will ask the District Council to allow me to quote the eighth chapter of the book of Exodus, verses 21 and 24 . Behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee [etc]. [...] Now this may have served Pharaoh right; but what have we in Herts done to deserve this plague?..." This amusing series of letters chronicles Shaw's long-running battle against a refuse dump in Wheathampstead, about a mile from the beautiful village of Ayot St Lawrence, where Shaw had his home, which was used to dump waste from the London Borough of Islington. v) Autograph manuscript note in reply to a letter by H. Robinson Shepherd of Boston University, declining to provide to Shepherd a requested comment on "the joys and struggles of the effort to use the language skilfully and well", explaining that "As soon as I have an idea I have the words to express it, and my only conscious effort is for accuracy of expression...", Shaw's response subscribed under Shepherd's original letter, 1 page, folio, 31 December 1924 vi) The Doctor's Dilemma, Getting Married, & The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet. London: Constable, 1911. 8vo, inscribed by the author to Sir Almroth Wright on the half-title ("to Sir Almroth Wright in whose laboratory the Doctor's Dilemma was incubated, and in whose brain it was made possible, from G. Bernard Shaw. 23rd February 1911"), publisher's green cloth, binding bumped, and stained, spine discoloured The immunologist Almroth Wright (1861–1947) was the basis for Sir Colenso Ridgeon in The Doctor's Dilemma. PROVENANCE: i-iv) Sale in these rooms, 21 July 1988, lot 224

View 1 of Lot 108: George Bernard Shaw | A collection, including letters and an inscribed book

george bernard shaw | a collection, including letters and an inscribed book

Books and Manuscripts: 19th and 20th Century

George Bernard Shaw Archive of papers relating to a legal case on Arms and the Man and the operetta The Chocolate Soldier, comprising: George Bernard Shaw, 24 letters and cards, 14 autograph, the remainder signed, to J.G. Godard of the law firm Mason and Co., ("...It seems that Mr Levinson is going to let you in for a lawsuit at last. He is demented by his failure to steal the film right of Arms and The Man from me. It is worth £30,000 spot cash on account of royalties; and he naturally feels aggrieved at my doing him out of all that money...", 9 October 1926), various sizes, 36 pages, 10 Adelphi Terrace, October 1926 to March 1927, some staining and wear; correspondence and copy letters on the history of The Chocolate Soldier, its connection to Arms and the Man, Shaw's attitude to copyright over the operetta, and his refusal to allow its cinematic treatment; legal correspondence and telegrams; legal notes including draft questions for the cross examination of witnesses; court documents including affidavits, admissions, statements, orders, notices, and assignments; transcripts of court proceedings; scripts, including typescripts and printed texts of the Lyric Theatre production of The Chocolate Soldier (with passages similar to Arms and the Man underlined in red ink), typescripts of a direct translation of the German libretto with the titled The Brave Soldier, printed copies of Arms and the Man (with passages similar to The Chocolate Soldier underlined in red ink); cuttings; and other related papers, 1926-27; the collection housed in 41 manila envelopes in two boxes A SUBSTANTIAL ARCHIVE RELATING TO A LEGAL DISPUTE ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, SHOWING SHAW'S CLOSE ATTENTION TO HIS AUTHORIAL RIGHTS. The Chocolate Soldier (Der Tapfrere Soldat) was an operetta from 1908 based on Shaw's 1894 play Arms and the Man, with a score by Oscar Straus and German libretto by Rudolf Bernauer. Shaw despised the work and wanted nothing to do with it. He therefore gave permission for the adaptation but only if none of his dialogue or character names were used. Having repudiated the work he refused copyright payment for it, so was probably chagrined when The Chocolate Soldier went on to be an international success, having its premier on Broadway in 1909 and in London in 1910. In 1923 an American producer began to make plans to film The Chocolate Soldier. Shaw was immediately concerned that any such film could damage his own film rights for Arms and the Man. At first he simply insisted that his own name or work could not appear in connection with The Chocolate Soldier, but soon came to believe that any film of the operetta would infringe his copyright since it was based on his earlier play. In October 1926 Jesse Arnold Levinson exploited the ambiguity of Shaw's earlier comments repudiating The Chocolate Soldier to sue him for slander of title in the English courts. He hoped to restrain Shaw from claiming that a film of The Chocolate Soldier would infringe his copyright. The current archive comprises the papers of Shaw's defence team, who ensured that the case turned on the undoubted similarity between the two works: The Chocolate Soldier might be a travesty, but it was undoubtedly based on Shaw's play. The case was heard in the Chancery court in February-March 1927 and was a victory for Shaw.

View 1 of Lot 140: Bernard Shaw | Archive relating to a legal case on Arms and the Man and The Chocolate Soldier, 1926-27

bernard shaw | archive relating to a legal case on arms and the man and the chocolate soldier, 1926-27

Fine Books and Manuscripts

Shaw, George Bernard The Millionairess, Rough Proof: unpublished. Privately printed, July 1935. 8vo. Proof copy, one of 25. Publisher's printed wrappers; covers a little worn and scratched, spine cracked with some loss. Presentation copy, inscribed to the title-page by the author to Dame Edith Evans "to thee, Edith, to thee", dated 6 August 1935, the role of Epifania highlighted in pencil throughout the text. [With:] The Millionairess, Rehearsal copy. Privately printed, March 1940. 8vo. Publisher's printed wrappers, "Second edition revised" in the author's hand to cover; small marginal tear to upper cover, pine cracked with some loss. Presentation copy, with a lengthy inscription to the fly by the author to Dame Edith Evans, the original intended Epifania, sharing the revised copy and the details of a judo instructor with whom he would like Edith to train for the role, the role of Epifania highlighted in pencil and pen throughout the text, with some lines crossed out and revised in manuscript (presumably in Evans's hand). Probably the most important two copies of the play. ﻿Shaw wrote the leading role of the spoilt heiress for Dame Edith Evans (1888-1976), the renowned thespian. The proof copy was sent to her with a warm and hopeful presentation inscription from Shaw; "...written with an eye (and heart) to thee, Edith, to thee." Evans famously spurned the part, calling it "too icy", and evidently taking offence at Shaw's suggestion of her for such a role. Despite Shaw's appeals, she continued to refuse, and he eventually saw Elspeth March take the role. Shaw finally got his wish five years later, in 1940, when Evans agreed to take the role upon the condition that he undertook several revisions. Thus, the jubilant Shaw presented the second, revised copy to Edith on 18 March 1940 with changes to pages 139 and 162, where boxing is changed to judo. In the presentation inscription Shaw explains, "The original boxing business was hopelessly ugly, unconvincing, and ineffective: Judo is very effective and perfectly ladylike." The Millionairess, with Edith Evans as Epifania, toured around the counties of the United Kingdom during the summer of 1940. To Shaw's immense disappointment, however, the London leg of the tour was cancelled due to the Blitz. Two wonderful pieces of theatrical history.

View 1 of Lot 1097: Shaw, George Bernard | The Millionairess, two important presentation copies

shaw, george bernard | the millionairess, two important presentation copies

Made in Britain

Important Photographs from the Peter Fetterman Collection

Important Photographs from the Peter Fetterman Collection Yousuf Karsh 1908 - 2002 George Bernard Shaw, 1941 Silver print, printed later and flush-mounted to card. Signed in black ink and numbered 24/100 in pencil on the mount. With a gallery label bearing information about the work in facsimile affixed to the back of the mount. Matted (unframed) image: 60 by 50 cm.; 23⅝ by 19⅝ in. mount: 76.4 by 61 cm.; 30 by 24 in.

View 1 of Lot 133: George Bernard Shaw, 1941

george bernard shaw, 1941

Refining Taste: Works Selected by Danny Katz

SIR JACOB EPSTEIN 1880-1959 SECOND PORTRAIT OF GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (HEAD) bronze height (not including base): 40cm., 15¾in. Conceived circa 1934. To view shipping calculator, please click here.

sir jacob epstein | second portrait of george bernard shaw (head)

Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale

george bernard shaw

Fine Autograph Letters and Manuscripts from a Distinguished Private Collection: Part II | Music, Americana, English and Continental Literature

Autograph letter signed, 1 page, Woking, 10 June 1902, to the publisher Grant Richards, declining to write about the coronation of Edward VIII ("It is an absolute waste of time writing these topical articles for magazines except from the money point of vie; and my articles are really not worth (to the magazine) the sum necessary to induce me to write them.") — Autograph letter signed, 1 page, London, 22 January 1907, to Giuseppi Bonaspetti, explaining that he already has a publisher "for the translation and exploitation of my plays in Italy." — Autograph letter signed, 2 pages, London, 25 October 1931, to Paolo Troubetzkoy, encouraging the sculptor to pursue his vision of a humanitarian film about wildlife. — "The Function of the Pall Mall Gazette—To the Editor," 4 1/2 pages, London, 8 June 1887, with many authorial emendations, deletions, and corrections, urging the paper to further embrace its turn to the policies of the Liberal Party. Half red morocco slipcase. — "Value—To the Editor of Justice," 1 1/2 pages, [London, ca. July, 1889], with many authorial emendations, deletions, and corrections, discussing Jevonian economics and Marxism. Together 5 items, totalling 10 pages, various sizes.

a group of 3 autograph letters signed ("g. bernard shaw") and 2 autograph articles signed ("g. bernard shaw") in the form of letters to the editor

A Living Legacy: Irish Art from the Collection of Brian P. Burns

portrait bust of george bernard shaw

Irish Art

portrait of george bernard shaw

1952 edition, with Katharine Hepburn engraved on the cover; together with the exhibition catalogue from Shaw: An Exhibit at the University of Texas in Austin, 1977. 2 items

a copy of the millionairess, by george bernard shaw

Autograph letter signed (“G. Bernard Shaw”), 2 pages (7 x 4 1/2  in.; 180 x 116 mm), on board the R. M. S. Edinburgh Castle, 15 February 1925, to Horace Wade, Jr., in Chicago; on the first and third pages of a bifolium of ship’s stationery; a trifle soiled, but in very good condition.

shaw, george bernard

Vivien: The Vivien Leigh Collection

10 volumes, comprising: i) Caesar and Cleopatra. 1931; ii) Our Theatres in the Nineties. 1932, volume 1 only, PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY JOHN MERIVALE ("Vivien | pp.146-154") on the front pastedown endpaper; iii) Three Plays for Puritans. The Devil's Disciple, Caesar and Cleopatra, and Captain Brassbound's Conversion. 1934, later edition, PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR ("Cleopatra's copy for | Vivien Leigh | G. Bernard Shaw | 30th May 1944") on the title page, also with initials "V.L." inscribed in pencil on front free endpaper; iv) Another copy. 1947, later edition; v) The Doctor's Dilemma, Getting Married, & The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet. 1937, later edition; vi) Geneva, Cymbeline Refinished, & Good King Charles. 1946; vii) Sixteen Self Sketches. 1949, PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY MERCIA SWINBURNE AND GEORGE RELPH ("Love, darling | Mercia & George") on the front free endpaper, portrait frontispiece and photographic plates; viii) Music in London. 1949-1950, 3 volumes, later editions; all 8vo, original red cloth lettered in gilt on spines, some top edges gilt 

[the works of george bernard shaw. standard edition]. london: constable and company, 1931-1950

8vo, PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY PASCAL ("To Vivien | in deep gratitude | Gabriel Pascal") on the half-title AND BERNARD SHAW ("G. Bernard Shaw | for Vivien Leigh; if she can forgive the worst | portraits - not chosen by me.") beneath the frontispiece, plates, original cream boards, lettered in gilt, top edge black, publisher's pictorial slipcase, some soiling to boards, light rubbing to slipcase

meeting at the sphinx…gabriel pascal’s production of bernard shaw’s caesar and cleopatra. london: macdonald & co, [c.1946]

costume design for george bernard shaw's the doctor's dilemma, act iv

costume design for george bernard shaw's the doctor's dilemma, act iii

costume design for george bernard shaw's the doctor's dilemma, act i

30 volumes, NUMBER 215 OF 1025 COPIES, original green cloth, lettered in gilt with the title of each play and volume number on spine, some soiling to a few leaves in volume 9

[the works of george bernard shaw]. london: constable & co, 1930-1932

second portrait of george bernard shaw (head)

one letter including a long explanation of the differences between Marx and H.T. Buckle ("...Marx was the champion of the slave, Buckle the champion of the sceptic. The result was that in spite of their determination to be strictly 'scientific'...you have Marx coming out as a thorough Collectivist...whilst Buckle comes out a thorough Individualist...") in which he points out the weakness of Marx ("...No doubt he turned over the leaves of a great many books and pamphlets sufficiently to make some contemptuous quotation or allusion...but he was evidently incapable of tolerating anybody who did not share his sensitiveness on the labor question, and simply could not and would not take the trouble to make out their drift..."); other matters discussed, often at length, including the drink question, Disestablishment ("...simply means handing over the property of the Church to the secular proprietors without any obligation on their part not to spend it at Monte Carlo..."), atheism ("...I am heterodox even in my Atheism; and that is the secret of the unexpectedness of my attitude..."), religious toleration, the notion of Democracy, Fabianism, housing ("...What maddens me is not so much to see houses cropping up over the old Sunday-outing places, but to see that they are cropping up in such a way as to form the beginnings of slums..."), hospital subscriptions and the navy

one letter including a long explanation of the differences between Marx and H.T. Buckle ("...Marx was the champion of the slave, Buckle the champion of the sceptic. The result was that in spite of their determination to be strictly 'scientific'...you have Marx coming out as a thorough Collectivist...whilst Buckle comes out a thorough Individualist...") in which he points out the weakness of Marx ("...No doubt he turned over the leaves of a great many books and pamphlets sufficiently to make some contemptuous quotation or allusion...but he was evidently incapable of tolerating anybody who did not share his sensitiveness on the labor question, and simply could not and would not take the trouble to make out their drift..."); other matters discussed, often at length, including the drink question, Disestablishment ("...simply means handing over the property of the Church to the secular proprietors without any obligation on their part not to spend it at Monte Carlo..."), atheism ("...I am heterodox even in my Atheism; and that is the secret of the unexpectedness of my attitude..."), religious toleration, the notion of Democracy, Fabianism, housing ("...What maddens me is not so much to see houses cropping up over the old Sunday-outing places, but to see that they are cropping up in such a way as to form the beginnings of slums..."), hospital subscriptions and the navy 22 pages in all, 4to and 8vo, six envelopes, 29 Fitzroy Square, 10 Adelphi Terrace, Blen-Cathra, Ayot St Lawrence and elsewhere, 14 December 1892 to 8 October 1928, the first letter quite heavily stained, a few paperclip rust-marks, some dust-staining and creasing to all items

series of fifteen letters, eight of them autograph, all signed ("g. bernard shaw" or "g.b.s."), all but one addressed to the fabian a.j. marriott, about political and religious issues

Prefaces. Constable, 1934, first edition,  presentation copy amusingly inscribed "to my exceedingly troublesome cousin Aida Shaw in the hope that it will keep her quiet for a few minutes at least. G. Bernard Shaw. 11th Oct. 1934"; The Complete Plays, Constable, 1931, first edition, presentation copy inscribed by the author to his cousin aida shaw;  Too Good to be Good, Village Wooing & On the Rocks. Constable, 1934, presentation copy inscribed "to Aida, from GBS 19th Oct. 1934"; Heartbreak House. Constable, 1931, revised edition, presentation copy  inscribed "...to Norma Haig Wheeler G. Bernard Shaw 28th July 1943"); Saint Joan A Chronicle and the Apple Cart A Political Extravaganza. Constable, 1936, reprint, presentation copy inscribed "...to Aida's friend Mrs. Nancy Wheeler G. Bernard Shaw. 28th July 1943"); original red cloth bindings, 8vo

a collection of five works, signed or inscribed:

anatomising Harris's character and deliberately provocative behaviour ("...Someone in London .. asks you to take in a Bishop's wife. You entertain her with deep-voiced outpourings of your scorn for the hypocrisy and snobbery of the Church, finishing up with a touch of poetry about Mary Magdalene and her relations with Jesus..."), with its impact on Harris's reputation, defending his own political stance and position on the war ("...The Prussian system delivered Germany into the hands of the Leutenants and the Generals who made themselves agreeable to Wilhelm; and the result was that even Kitchener and French were able to bluff them until we improvised an army..."), then turning to questions of his early life and the ménage à trois between his mother, george carr shaw, and george lee ("...There was no sex in the atmosphere: it was never discussed or even thought about as far as I could see..."), and the fascinating possibility of the "intellectual or character cuckoo" as a literary subject, considering the place of sex in his own work ("...what a curse this miserable preoccupation of literature with sexual infatuation is..."), then analysing his own education and the influence of music on his cultural development, and offering some thoughts on various authors ("...Mark Twain is a classic. He is also a shocking Philistine..."), 13 pages, 4to, text on rectos only, headed stationery of 10 Adelphi Terrace, London, 5 March 1918, punch holes in top left corners, rust stains

typed letter signed, with autograph corrections and alterations to every page, to frank harris, 5 march 1918

20th Century British Art

THE JAMES S. COPLEY LIBRARY: ARTS & SCIENCES, INCLUDING THE MARK TWAIN COLLECTION

Two fine letters regarding plays and playwriting, as follows:

Two fine letters regarding plays and playwriting, as follows: Autograph letter signed ("G. Bernard Shaw"), 2 pages (8 1/4 x 5 1/4 in.; 210 x 134 mm) on a bifolium, London, 1 February 1895, to the publisher (and playwright) William Heinemann; slightly dust-soiled and a trifle wrinkled. Blue half-morocco folding-case. Shaw's letter is a critique of a Heinemann play: " ... Why not compress those three acts into one act – or rather prologue ...That is what you have really struck out, this calling the first step of it 'a dramatic' moment,' and stitching it up in green covers ... is all nonsense ... What the audience wants to know is how the woman got out of it – what the solution of the problem is. It is not enough for you to cut a slice of life – anyone can do that who can write or imagine at all – you must eat the slice, digest it, & build it up into a living organism. That's the meaning of creation in art ... Outside the most lighthearted comedy, there must be no happy endings; but there must be no unhappy endings at all: there must be great endings, or hopeful, or right endings; but happiness & unhappiness are the positive & negative ends of life only with fools ... My play [Candida?] is not typed yet. When it is, you shall read it if I can get a copy disengaged before it reaches the stage ..."  Not in Letters, ed. Laurence. Typed letter signed ("G. Bernard Shaw"), 1 page (10 x 8 in.; 253 x 202 mm), single-spaced, London, 25 June 1919, to W. S. Kennedy of The Incorporated Stage Society; some light staining.  Commenting on Henry James as a dramatist and on his own Heartbreak House: "I must look up The Reprobate. I don't think James is impossible from any other point of view but that of dialogue. He could not write colloquial English. The last time we did a play of his I tried the experiment of quoting several of the phrases in it to people in conversation; and they simply could not catch the words, which were quite intelligible, and even charming, on paper. However, his earlier work is not so bad in this respect: indeed Guy Domville [for which James was hooted off the stage] had some delightful and perfectly intelligible conversation...As to my own play [Heartbreak House], the real difficulty is that I cannot afford to let it go as a Stage Society production if I can make any money by it in the ordinary course, which seems probable now that the war is over. My financial position, like everyone else's though not desperate is not to be trifled with when it comes to the fruit of so many months' work as Heartbreak House."

A group of five manuscript and typescript items,etc., 1914–1949, as follows:

thanking her for a facsimile of a Bach score, and stating that he is nevertheless "getting rid of all music", as he is very old and has "not touched the piano" since the death of his wife in 1943, 1 page, oblong 8vo, on headed stationery of Ayot St Lawrence and 4 Whitehall Court, framed and glazed (overall size 235 x 270mm.), 5 February 1948, creased at central fold, light staining and browning, not examined out of frame

typed letter signed ("g. bernard shaw"), to frau hinrichsen

one to “Hind” in 1891, discussing the proof of Shaw’s article on the artist J.M. Strudwick and complaining about editorial interference (“…editors who presume to paint my lilies seldom die in their beds, and invariably go to hell almost immediately after their decease…”); another to John Palmer in 1898, thanking him for finding him an “excellent” Schiedmayer piano (“a welcome relief to the noisy, rattling abominations with which English country houses are infested”); a seven-page letter in his retained heavily revised draft to the Editor of the "St Pancras Guardian" in 1902, arguing about a misapprehension concerning the Borough Council's "badges of office" and his complaint about certain proceedings ("...I am not accusing them of corruption. But I am sometimes driven to wonder whether the intelligent corruption of January can really be as mischievous as the political childishness and inconsequence, the thoughtless insensibility to public opinion, and the easygoing satisfaction with a gentlemanly goodfellowship as the highest virtue demanded by public life, which the Vestry has bequeathed to us..."); and three to the writer Maurice Baring in 1924-26, with a copy of one by Baring to him, complaining about the double-dealings of repertory theatres in Germany and Austria and of translators, as well as disagreeing with Baring about the impending destruction of Rennie’s Waterloo Bridge, 16 pages in all, 4to and 8vo, 16 February 1891 to 20 January 1926, pinholes, occasional marginal dust-staining,  traces of former mounting

six substantial letters, nearly all entirely autograph (one page typed), mostly signed (“g. bernard shaw”, “gbs”)

various sizes, most approximately 380 x 410mm., mounted and signed, [mid-to-late 1940s]

collection of seven pencil portraits of shaw by clare winsten (one in felt tip), together with two pencil portraits by shaw (one of winsten, and one a self-portrait)

oil on canvas, signed by the artist, in large gilt frame, size of image c.106 x 84cm., overall size c.135 x 115cm.

portrait of shaw by clare winsten

negotiating financial terms for the production of his plays (such as Heartbreak House and Getting Married), demanding payment ("...Please sell up what is left of the theatre and let me have a cheque. If you don't, I shall tell the Society of Authors to collect it, and the consequences will be frightful..."), commenting on members of the cast ("...She has a very vigorous comic talent; but whether there is a poetic side to it I don't know: there has been no magic about her so far..."), asking Macdermott to secure Irene Rooke ("...for the bishop's wife. This part...is very important...Irene has the sympathetic softness and happiness that are needed for the contrast with Lesbia, and the dignity as well...") and referring to other actors such as Edith Evans and Claude Rains ("the most important leading man you have struck yet"); Shaw also remarks on the success of the Macdona Players, who have been touring his plays for several years ("...I cannot decently rob [Charles] Macdona of the spoils of his unexpected and unaccountable success. I am under considerable obligations to him..."), and in one particularly long and didactic letter discussing touring rights, he complains eloquently about delayed payments, concluding that "the economic conditions of theatrical business are inexorable: I am no freer than you, and must exploit my copyrights under market conditions like any cheesemonger. You must study the game carefully; for a repertory theatre cannot be run like a West End gamble on neck-or-nothing lines"; 11 pages, 4to and 8vo, headed stationery of 10 Adelphi Terrace and Ayot St. Lawrence, 18 October 1920 to 9 September 1924, a few rust-marks from paperclips, slight creasing

negotiating financial terms for the production of his plays (such as Heartbreak House and Getting Married), demanding payment ("...Please sell up what is left of the theatre and let me have a cheque. If you don't, I shall tell the Society of Authors to collect it, and the consequences will be frightful..."), commenting on members of the cast ("...She has a very vigorous comic talent; but whether there is a poetic side to it I don't know: there has been no magic about her so far..."), asking Macdermott to secure Irene Rooke ("...for the bishop's wife. This part...is very important...Irene has the sympathetic softness and happiness that are needed for the contrast with Lesbia, and the dignity as well...") and referring to other actors such as Edith Evans and Claude Rains ("the most important leading man you have struck yet"); Shaw also remarks on the success of the Macdona Players, who have been touring his plays for several years ("...I cannot decently rob [Charles] Macdona of the spoils of his unexpected and unaccountable success. I am under considerable obligations to him..."), and in one particularly long and didactic letter discussing touring rights, he complains eloquently about delayed payments, concluding that "the economic conditions of theatrical business are inexorable: I am no freer than you, and must exploit my copyrights under market conditions like any cheesemonger. You must study the game carefully; for a repertory theatre cannot be run like a West End gamble on neck-or-nothing lines"; 11 pages, 4to and 8vo, headed stationery of 10 Adelphi Terrace and Ayot St. Lawrence, 18 October 1920 to 9 September 1924, a few rust-marks from paperclips, slight creasing together with enclosures (a signed copy of a letter by Shaw to Alfred Wareing about touring rights and a copy of Macdermott's reply to Shaw)

Results for "Bernard Shaw"