Ghosts by Draycott (1 results)

Hardback. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. First Edition. Dell, Draycott M. Ghosts: Adapted from Hendrik Ibsen's Famous Play. London: Jarrolds Publishers Limited, n.d. [1917]. First edition. Octavo, pp. [i-vii] viii [1] 2-190 [191-192: publisher's ads]. Original charcoal gray, front and spine panels stamped in red. Dated (1918) ownership signature on front free endpaper. Scattered light foxing, especially near endpapers, otherwise very good. Not held by any U.S. libraries. #613. $75. Novelizations of popular plays used to be a common feature of book publishing (much like today's novelizations of popular movies). What's odd about this present work is that such a controversial, high-brow play was chosen -- and issued by such a low-brow publisher as Jarrolds. The play itself represents another romp from those devil-may-care Scandinavians, in this case featuring adultery, alcoholism, syphilis, incest, euthanasia via morphine overdose, and an orphanage that burns down. What's not to like? The play was written in 1881 and first performed the following year, somewhat improbably, in Chicago by a touring Danish company. The author, though Norwegian, had written the play in Danish. Its title might be more accurately conveyed in English by the phrase "skeletons in the closet." The play concerns their sudden, overwhelming emergence. A curiosity that should appeal to Ibsen scholars and enthusiasts.