Lucius Books. Rare Books, First Editions, Signed copies in York, UK

Description:

First edition, first printing. Original card covers. INSCRIBED by the author, “For Pat Magee / In friendship / Sam. Beckett / Paris Xmas / 1959”. Very much his working copy with underlining and various inscriptions / diagrams in Magee’s hand. From the condition, one could assume that he carried it around in his back pocket for the 20 years following presentation, the covers are loose, chipped and worn but the pages are generally clean and without tears. Housed in purpose made quarter black morocco solander box by The Chelsea Bindery. Patrick Magee, an Irish actor renowned for his stage work in plays by Pinter and Beckett and films including A Clockwork Orange had not yet met Samuel Beckett in early 1958, when Beckett began a short piece (running to little more than ten minutes in performance) with the working title ‘The Magee Monologue’. Beckett had heard a recording of a radio performance of All That Fall and embarked on a piece written specifically for Magee. The piece would be re-titled Krapp’s Last Tape and Beckett and Magee would become lifelong collaborators, friends and drinking companions; the dedication of this copy, from the author to the actor for whom the part, and piece, was written, marks the beginning of that professional and personal relationship. A landmark copy of one of the most significant plays of the twentieth century.