CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS

First edition, first printing. Inscribed by the author to his editor at Faber and Faber, Frank Pike. Original black cloth lettered in silver to the spine, in the dustwrapper showing a wraparound photograph by Mary Ellen Mark. A fine copy, the binding square and firm, the contents clean throughout. In the fine, unclipped dustwrapper (£5.95 net to the front flap). Uncommon in signed or inscribed state.

Inscribed by the author in blue ink to the front free endpaper "For Frank Pike, who is a very / patient [underlined] man. / With many thanks — John Heilpern." The recipient, Frank Pike, editor at Faber and Faber for 41 years, was from the 1960s onwards responsible for the Faber drama list, recruiting and working with Tom Stoppard, Simon Gray, Brian Friel, Sam Shepard, Alan Bennett, and indeed David Hare, among others, as well as working closely with authors already publishing with the firm, including John Osborne and Samuel Beckett. 'Conference of the Birds', John Heilpern's first book (he was known for his profiles written for 'The Observer') recounts the extraordinary story of the theatre director, Peter Brook, who, in the mid-1970s, left Paris with an international troupe of actors and set off for the Sahara desert. "From there", as the jacket explains, "they began an incredible journey which took them 8,500 miles through the remote villages of Africa until the exhausted expedition came full circle, ending in the desert where it began. This mysterious journey was without precedent in the history of the theatre. For in the strange African setting Brook and his troupe were in search of a new beginning and a completely new form of theatre. Though threatened by tension and serious outbreaks of sickness, the actors performed at each village they came to, improvising before stunned villagers with whom they shared no common language. In return, the villagers allowed them eventually into their secret ceremonies –as if, it seemed, they were offering a form of guidance. As the unusual expedition travelled further into Africa, each member was asked for a deeper commitment which took them far beyond their own preoccupations towards the challenge and danger of a spiritual voyage. In the chaos that followed, the expedition became a search for the miraculous."