JOANNA JOANNA: A Play in Two Acts.

First edition, first printing. Signed limited edition. One of twelve numbered copies in full black Nigerian goatskin, lettered in gilt to the spine. Top edge gilt. Printed on Mohawk Superfine 118 gsm paper. With the original glassine. Housed in a marbled paper-covered card slipcase. A fine copy, presenting as unread, the binding square and firm, the contents spotless throughout.

'Joanna Joanna' was published in an edition of 143 copies, 125 copies in cloth, signed and numbered 1-125; 12 copies, numbered I-XII, in Nigerian goatskin, signed with a holograph quotation from the text; and 6 copies in goatskin for private distribution. This copy is no. VIII of the 12 numbered I-XII. Beneath her signature in black ink on the rear colophon page, Murdoch has written the following quotation from the play, "I don't blame myself at all, / I am far beyond satisfactions / of that kind." 'Joanna Joanna' (set "at an Institute of Theoretical Studies somewhere in English Countryside") was written in 1969, a year the author dedicated to writing plays. It was never performed (though the plot was recycled for the 1975 novel 'A Word Child') and is published here for the first time. (Peter J. Conradi, 'Iris Murdoch: A Life' [London, 2001]).