Fine Press Plays (OTS)

Curious to learn about good fine press plays out in the wild - I've seen threads on poetry and literature, less on plays (excluding Shakespeare, which is rather easy to find). Any good play productions that people like, other than Shakespeare (OTS)? (Not averse to Shakespeare, just think those titles will overwhelm the thread given prominence). A few on my shelves are Arden of Feversham and Faustus from Tudor Black Press and American Buffalo from AP. All for Love by Allen Press is on my list to acquire at some point.

I recently read the LEC "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder and enjoyed everything about it. An all-around handsome book (and signed by Wilder) of a classic play that has a number of interesting productions available for viewing online.

There are those three Golden Hours Press editions: Doctor Faustus, The Rich Jew of Malta, and Hero and Leander.

The Arion Press Tartuffe is a really excellent volume (though very tall).

Among their many plays, LEC has 4 plays by Christopher Marlowe, which I find to be a wonderful volume. Lovely paper, and woodcuts by Fritz Kredel

I also like the LEC’s version of The Birds, by Aristophanes.

The LEC William Tell is a good one. Nice paper and wooden boards. Don’t love the illustrations though.

Other LEC plays that are available but I find less interesting from a book arts perspective:

Three Plays of Euripides
Oedipus the King
Two plays by Oscar Wilde
Prometheus Bound/Promethus Unbound
Three Plays by Ibsen
Pygmalion/Candida
Antigone
Two Plays by Chekhov (nice patterned/textured cloth on the binding though)
The Way of the World

Lulu plays, Arion Press

Robert the Devil from Windhover Press. It’s a translation of an anonymous 14th century French play. An edition of 310 copies that made the Century for a Century list. Can be found at reasonable prices if it is not one of the fifty copies with hand colored illustrations (those are much pricier).

Any Ancient Greek drama really. As a reading experience I can safely recommend Three Plays of Euripides by LEC. It’s a beautiful translation, unlike the uninspired, albeit better made, Aristophanes’ Frogs (which comes with a somewhat naive introduction).

On a relevant note, no (Ancient Greek?) play can be really appreciated by just reading. It’s useful to know the story and background beforehand but these plays were meant to be experienced live, not read.

If you are ever near Greece or Cyprus, watching an ancient greek drama in a Greek or Roman amphitheater is truly a bucket list worthy experience.

http://greekdramafest.com/

Antigone from the Allen Press is widely considered a superlative production.

The Agamemnon of Aeschylus from Rampant Lions Press is extremely well made and contains the original Greek as well as a prose translation.

I'm in the process of trying to secure A Play (or Opera) founded on The song of Solomon from Reading Room Press, and am always on the lookout for Mystery Plays in fine press. The Chester Play of the Deluge was printed by Will Carter at Rampant Lions and I hope one day to afford that one.

More Arion Press; The Price, Arcadia, A Lie of the Mind.

There’s lots of Greek drama out there from multiple fine presses, e.g. Hippolytos from Gehenna Press or the multiple titles from the Allen Press such as Bacchae and The Oresteia, Fanfrolico’s Lysistrata

Off the wall minor plays like The Bright Island from Golden Cockerel, Equus from Old Stile Press

Beggar's Opera
LEC
Daniel O'Connor/Chiswick Press, 1922
Heinemann, 1921. Ltd edn, handmade paper, illus Claude Lovat Fraser
G. Govone, Paris, 1937. lithographs by Mariette Lydis, 1500 copies, signed.

etc., etc.

Passion Play, Shaw, windhover, Iowa 1971--Tremendous typography! Nifty binding.

LEC “Death of a Salesman” is really nice.

Bowler Press “The Importance of Being Earnest” is a gem, but won’t be easy to find.

>4 jsg1976:
The LEC Tartuffe (the 1930 one) is terrific, too. The later edition is coupled with another Molière play but is less exciting in terms of binding etc.

Also the LEC A Streetcar Names Desire and the Threepenny Opera (in addition to and both inferior to the gorgeous Death of a Salesman mentioned above).

>1 LBShoreBook:

Grabhorn did a nice Phaedra (Racine).

One LEC I haven't seen mentioned is Ionesco's Journeys Among the Dead.

Fanfrolico Press, Manfred (Lord Byron). If closet drama counts.

>1 LBShoreBook: Trying not to list any duplicates, but several Gregynog Press titles:
Euripides - "The Plays" (1931). The specially bound single volume folio in full Levant morocco is magnificent.
Hartzenbusch - "The Lovers of Teruel" (1938).
Lope de Vega - "The Star of Seville" (1935).

And from the Allen Press:
Terence - "The Brothers" (1968).

Aside from some very nice (and very expensive) first editions, I'm sure there are some Oscar Wilde fine press editions out there in a variety of languages. Folio Society did an edition of The Importance of Being Earnest in 1960 with illustrations by Cecil Beaton. The LEC did an edition in 1973 of Lady Windermere's Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest illustrated by Tony Walton. There are several nice editions of Salomé, including the various Aubrey Beardsley illustrated editions, an edition of 500 published by Thomas B. Mosher in 1911, the Grabhorn Press edition of 1927 illustrated by Valenti Angelo (also published by Heritage Press in 1945 with hand illumination by Angelo), the LEC edition published in 1938 illustrated by Derain, and the Folio Society edition of 1957 with engravings by Frank Martin.

I second >2 A.Nobody: regarding Our Town, one of my favorite LEC of all time and a heck of a value!!

>13 kermaier: I remember that edition. The illustrations and letterpress are indeed beautiful! Whatever happened to the Bowler Press? At one point, they were supposedly working on an edition of Pride and Prejudice, but I don't think that ever materialized?

>21 astropi: I think they took deposits for P&P (I didn’t subscribe), but the project failed. I don’t they’ve done anything of note since.

>22 kermaier: I believe Bowler raised around $40k, but I don't know if that was returned or what? Instead of going kickstarter I do recall Bowler Press went a different direction, which I thought was a bit strange. But it sounded like full stream ahead --

https://www.thewholebookexperience.com/2012/05/04/more-details-on-the-bowler-pre...

Posted on May 4, 2012 by J. Davis
The Bowler Press is now taking advanced orders on their 3 volume edition of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. They are projecting it will take three years to complete this massive undertaking. This is also the first time that I know of a press using crowdfunding to help finance the project. I’m seeing this more and more in other areas, especially music, and think it is a great model. Good luck to them on that and we will look forward to seeing the first volume in 2013(ish).

That's a long silence........

A bit offbeat, as it appears to be in a kind of narrative format, but I found fine press editions of The Searcher: A War Play by Velona Pilcher (1929).

>23 astropi: I backed the project and after a couple years of following up with them and not seeing any progress I asked for my pledged amount back and it was promptly refunded.

Two more:

Aristophanes' _The Clouds_, Peter Pauper Press, 1941: Fantastic, thin, sans serif typeface (like Noble?)

Marlowe's _The Life and Dean of Tamburlaine the Great_, The Hesperides Press (printed by Curwen Press for Hesperides), 1930: provocative illustrations by R. S. Sherriffs and an unknown thick, dark cream, textured paper.

>27 abgreens: oh man, I managed to get the Heritage Press version of four Christopher Marlowe play for 27 dollars on AbeBooks and it’s currently my favorite non-letter press printings