John Bull's Other Island and Major Barbara: also How He Lied to Her Husband [Unopened]

London: Archibald Constable, 1907. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. A superb unopened First Impression collecting these three plays, the first commissioned by W. B. Yeats. Crown 8vo (176 x 119mm): lix,[3],293,[3]pp. Publisher's olive-green vertically ribbed cloth, spine lettered in gilt; top edge gilt, others uncut; dun-colored dust jacket lettered in black and priced 6/-. An unopened, virtually flawless copy (jacket's spine panel lightly toned), tightly bound and clean throughout. Laurence A83b. Wells 34. Broad, pp. 7, 53-57, 92. "John Bull's Other Island" and "How He Lied to Her Husband" first appeared in German translation, in the Berliner Tageblatt, in November, 1904. A New York edition collecting only "John Bull's Other Island" and "Major Barbara" appeared shortly before this English edition, in 1907, which contains a brief postscript to "John Bull's Other Island" and a note on Euripidean verses in "Major Barbara" that do not appear in the American edition. "John Bull's Other Island" was commissioned for the opening of Dublin's Abbey Theatre, but Yeats rejected it as too long and too difficult to produce. Shaw says, in the Preface to this edition, that the play was rejected for "another reason . . . It was uncongenial to the whole spirit of the neo-Gaelic movement, which is bent on creating a new Ireland after its own ideal, whereas my play is a very uncompromising presentment of the real old Ireland." Broad notes that "British prejudice against [Shaw's] plays began to break down in 1905, when King Edward VII attended a performance of 'John Bull's Other Island' at the Royal Court Theatre . . . " N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).