LAHR, John ~ Prick up your Ears. Inscribed by the author.

FIRST UK PRINTING. Allen Lane, Penguin Books Ltd., London: 1978.

8vo., two-tone black and white cloth, lettered in metallic red to spine with publisher's device to foot; in the unclipped photographic dustwrapper (£5.95 net) featuring a cover image by Lewis Morley; frontis illustration; 16pp of black and white photographs; THE BOOK near-fine, slightly discoloured at the edges and spotted to outer edge of text block; endpapers mildly spotted and offset; THE WRAPPER very good to near-fine, with a few small marks, creases to edges, and sunning along the backstrip. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First UK edition, first printing. This copy inscribed by the author to Nina Stibbe: "For Nina - As Orton would say, 'The words are obscure but the picture will keep you from harm.' Affectionately, John Lahr. Christmas, 1982." The recipient's name is also written to the front free endpaper. The biography of the playwright Joe Orton, whose scandalous black comedies and farcical cynicism earned him lasting fame, despite his tragic early death at the hands of his partner in 1967. During the course of his short career, Orton had penned three full-length plays (one produced posthumously), four one-act plays, and two which had been adapted for film. He carved out for himself an infamous reputation and the term 'Ortonesque' had already been absorbed into theatrical vocabulary at the time of his death. This biography was produced by the American theatre critic John Lahr using extracts from the playwright's own diaries and unpublished manuscripts. In 1987 the biography was adapted into film which Lahr co-produced. The screenplay was written by Alan Bennett, and starred Gary Oldman as Orton, and Wallace Shawn as Lahr himself.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Near Fine
JACKET: Very Good