About this Item
First Edition ( 'First Published 1952'). This book is special on several accounts. Once listed, it will be the Only first edition for sale anywhere on the Internet. Second, it was the author's first novel. And third, the book came from the library of the wonderful Theodore Bikel (I now have a good number of books listed for sale from his library). The book was inscribed to him by a friend. The inscription, on the first front end paper, reads 'For Theo, from David, upon the sad occasion of David's "demobilisation" ( English spelling, David, not I, put quotations around the word). Bikel lived in London from 1945 to 1954 while studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. The book is in really nice condition. You can see the maroon covers in the photos. They are perfectly clean. The gilt design on the front cover is bright and unworn. And that's the case for the gilt lettering on the spine. There's little to no wear on the covers. There is a tiny, neat, spot of fraying on the lower edge of the maroon margin on the front inside cover, quite minor. And there's very minor crinkling at the spine ends. There's a tiny crease at the top corner of the front. The top page edge has some light small spots of dust staining. The middle page edge has a few of the same. A few of these can be seen just on the edge of the actual pages. Otherwise, the pages are exceptionally clean. In scrolling through, I saw only one thin spot of soiling off the bottom edge of one page. The pages are also in very nice shape. I didn't see any turned-down corners or placeholder creases. There are no markings. No attachments. And with the exception of the aforementioned inscription to Bikel, there is no writing to be found anywhere in the book. Finally, the book is square and very solidly bound from cover to cover. There are no binding issues with any of the pages or with the covers, which are both nicely tight and free of issue. The dust jacket can be seen in the first few photos. I've had it in a fitted protective cover for as long as I've owned the book which goes back a number years. Actually, there have likely only been two owners, Bikel and myself. The jacket's front and spine are very clean. The white rear cover has a handful of small dust spots. The corners of the jacket have tiny spots of loss. There's bit of the same at the top edge of the spine, and there's a little scuffing at the spine ends. There are two smallish losses off the bottom edge of the rear cover (see third photo). The flaps are in very good shape. They do have a little dust staining, mostly just off their top edge, a few light spots elsewhere. The jacket is NOT price-clipped, not clipped at all. From the dust jacket: 'From the very start of the story, when Jean Merry queues up for an audition with a "Rep" producer in her agent's office, one is in the purlieus-- and not far from the dregs-- of the theatre world. After a vastly entertaining jostling for places in the queue, Jean gets the job and is signed up with The Princess Players to appear at Morden-on-Sea. From then on it's all "back-stage". And with a number of very different, highly diverging, brilliantly drawn characters. There is plenty of Action, even Drama, in the story; there is the real atmosphere of greasepaint and footlights. Alex Atkinson, as you would certainly suppose, has had a great deal of personal experience in Rep. He is making a considerable name for himself as a contributor to Punch and other periodicals. All Next Week is his first novel.' Atkinson began writing for Punch in 1948. In 1950 he ended his acting career to devote his time to writing. He wrote a number of plays. He collaborated on a number of works with the renowned illustrator Ronald Searle. 'In his 1957 article Over Seventy P.G. Wodehouse, lamenting the decline of the humorist, wrote: "I want to see and A. P. Herbert on every street corner, an Alex Atkinson in every locale." You can read about Theodore Bikel (Tevye) in his long Wikipedia profile.
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