PARADISE LOST A Play in Three Acts by Odets, Clifford - (1936)

New York: Random House. Good. 1936. First Edition. Hardcover. (no dust jacket) [moderately shelfworn book, slight fraying to cloth at top of spine, bottom corners lightly bumped, gilt spine lettering dulled but still readable]. (B&W photo frontispiece) Odets's play about "the decay of the middle class" (per Harold Clurman, in his introduction). First presented by the Group Theatre in December 1935; the original cast included Morris Carnovsky, Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner, Luther Adler, Elia Kazan, and Vincent Sherman. Odets came to Hollywood in early 1936, hoping to make some easy movie money to help finance this production; he may not have gotten on the train quickly enough, though, as the play closed in February 1936. .

NY: Random House. Very Good+ in Very Good dust jacket. 1936. First Edition. Hardcover. Blue cloth titled in gilt, blue topstain. Stated first edition. Trace rubbing to points, PO inscription to ffep, slightly toned pages, very small faint stain to rear board. Frontis photo. Tight with sound hinges. The DJ in mylar is toned, moreso to spine, with a few splash dampstains and slightly nicked edge with a short closed edge tear to front panel. Flap price $2.00.; 8vo 8" - 9" tall .

NY: Random House, 1936. First Edition. 8vo, pp. 204. Frontis photo. Owner's name and sticker on flyleaf. VG in somewhat stained and worn dj. A play.

ODETS, Clifford. Paradise Lost: A Play in Three Acts. Original cloth, dust jacket. New York: Random House, [1936]. First edition. A near fine copy in a non-price-clipped dust jacket.

Random House, 1936. First Edition . Cloth. Fine/Good. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. Slightly smaller, thicker book, dark blue cloth, gilt lettering and tiny star design very fine on spine, a bookmark included from Concord Books in Greenwich Village, a frontispiece photo of play. First appearance was December 9, 1935 at Longacre Theater starring Walter Coy, Elia Kazan and Joan Madison. 204 lightly browned heavy pages. DJ heavy paper beneath mylar, ornately illustrated on front with red curtained stage, Random House log at top front, red star design on top front and spine, light brown background, very slightly browned on spine. DJ has very tiny tear and light wear to top front edge, microtears and tiny thin nick at spine top edge, very tiny tear at top back spine indentation, tiny nick with 1/4" tear at spine bottom left edge. Near Very Good DJ/Very Fine book.

New York: Random House, 1936. First Edition. First edition. Signed by Clifford Odets in the year of publication, inscribed to actor Fredric March and his wife, "For Mr. + Mrs F. March, with the appreciation of the Group Theater. Sincerely, [signed] Clifford Odets 1/18/36." xiii, [i], 204 pp. Bound in publisher's navy cloth with gilt spine lettering. Very Good, edges foxed, in Very Good dust jacket, dulled spine panel, light wear and stain at foot. A great association between playwright Odets, with one of his more difficult plays, and Hollywood actor Fredric March, a major star of his day. Odets' thanking March for his patronage of the experimental Group Theater collective, who put on this play, is a nice bit of Great Depression-era theater context too. The Group Theater would last ten years total; their biggest success would be the following year with Odets' play Golden Boy.