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HARDING, JAMES: : Emlyn Williams - A LIFE

LONDON.WEIDENFELD & NICOLSON 1993.

ISBN 0297813005.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE+/VG+.No owner inscrptn,and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright, crisp,clean,glossy laminated,red+white subject portrait photographic illustrated background with superimposed subject b/w portrait photographs illustrated dw/dj,with b/w lettering; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no major nicks or tears present.A small closed tear to top, front edge,towards top corner.Some minor,minimal superficial scoring/indents to both panels of dw/dj - but without adversely affecting the boards beneath.Top+fore-edges generally bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,would appear unread apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered, publisher's original,plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked silver gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate plain red endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,vii-xvpp+1- 255pp [paginated] includes a contents list/ table,acknowledgenments,illustrations list,a potted biography,6 Pts/sections - each comprising 3 chapters,apart from Pt 4 which only has 2,8pp of contemporary b/w auto+biographical photographs in 1 block,between pp112/13,a list of subject's works,a bibliography and an index. Plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,and a dedication. 'The Cinderella story of all time,' remarked Noel Coward,summing up the career of his friend Emlyn Williams. And so it was,this story of the bare-foot boy from remotest Wales,son of a ship's stoker and a lady's maid,who struggled up from poverty and deprivation,first by way of hard-won scholarships to Oxford and a degree in modern languages,and then,after a long apprenticeship,a great success as a playwright and actor on the West End stage. Emlyn Williams prospered in the theatre for more than fifty years with plays such as 'Night Must Fall',an eerie study of a pathological murderer,and 'The Corn is Green',which paid moving tribute to the schoolteacher who encouraged him. When the 'angry young men' of the 1960's, playwrights such as Pinter and Simpson,invaded the theatre with new ideas and new fashions he did not,like Coward,view them as enemies,but sympathised with their freedom from censorship and starred in their plays.He even forged a new career for himself by travelling the world in his own one-man shows based on Charles Dickens, Dylan Thomas and Saki. James Harding depicts a man of many paradoxes. Though kind and warm-hearted in private life,he was at the same time obsessed with child murderers and the psychopathology of killers and blackmailers.An adoring husband who never ceased to write ardent love letters to his wife,he remained an inveterate bisexual. The strange duality that pervaded his life is subtly and skilfully recounted in this absorbing new biography which has had full access to Williams' papers.Here are the friends who were closest to him: the formidable schoolteacher Miss Cooke,Richard Burton whom he 'discovered', John Gielgud,with whom he started in management, Noel Coward,godfather to one of his sons,Sybil Thorndike,Vivien Leigh and Laurence Oliver. Want more GIELGUD-related titles? For similar and other available titles use keywords q52_JOHN GIELGUD - or please search my BIOGRAPHY,GENERAL and SIGNED catalogues.Similarly for DICKENS-related titles but use q52_Charles Dickens in same catalogues. 'EMLYN WILLIAMS: A LIFE' is the fascinating life never before told in full. For related items/auto/biographies - some SIGNED,please see my following book ID's; for Noel Coward: rja328,rja2181 and rja22836; for Laurence Olivier: rja30148, rja30158 and rja366710; and for John Gielgud: rja245 and rja30138. Please contact seller,because of the weight of this item,for correct and possibly,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always. **

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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