Post-Mortem.: A Play in Eight Scenes.

London: William Heinemann Ltd,, 1931. First edition, first impression. Presentation copy to William Armstrong, director and producer of the Liverpool Playhouse, inscribed on the front free endpaper, "For William with my love, Noël." The play, heavily influenced by R. C. Sherriff's Journey's End, set in the trenches of the Great War, was written in 1930, but Coward decided that it was for publication only and should not be staged. William Armstrong (1882-1952) was a leading figure at the Liverpool Playhouse from 1922 to 1944, where he directed several Coward plays in the 1930s. Noël Coward and Gertrude Lawrence had worked with the company at Liverpool as child actors. Armstrong received an honorary MA from Liverpool University in 1930 and was appointed CBE in 1951 for services to local theatre. After leaving Liverpool in 1944 he directed in London, then became assistant director at Birmingham Rep Theatre from 1945 to 1947. His portrait hangs in the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. Octavo. Original purple cloth, titles to spine gilt. With dust jacket. Spine a little faded, a few spots to fore-edge, an excellent copy in the jacket, lightly dust-soiled, spine-tanned and with tiny chips to the ends and corners.