By Archibald Henderson
1956

Fine binding (Sangorski & Sutcliffe London) of the Limited Edition, signed by the author.
No 18 of 100.
2 Volumes.

George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1913) and Saint Joan (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Archibald Henderson (1877 – 1963) was an American professor of mathematics who wrote on a variety of subjects, including drama and history. He is well known for his friendship with George Bernard Shaw.

In 1903 in Chicago Henderson saw the first performance in the United States of Bernard Shaw's play You Never Can Tell. Henderson became so enthusiastic about the playwright and his personality that he determined to write Shaw's biography. After some communication between Shaw and Henderson, Henderson arrived in London in 1907 on the very same train carrying Mark Twain who was en route to Oxford to receive an honorary degree. Having established his relation with Shaw, Henderson went on to write three different versions of Shaw's biography covering Shaw's entire career up to the playwright's death in 1950, including several other miscellaneous works about Shaw. The Libraries at the University of North Carolina hold about 380 of Henderson's own writings on various topics, including an invaluable collection of 75 scrap books devoted to articles about Shaw.

Some foxing.
164mm x 240mm x 40mm

R4,000