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LAHR, JOHN - Edited by: : The Orton Diaries

LONDON.METHUEN LONDON LTD.,1986.

ISBN 0413496600.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,illustrated,1st edn. FINE/FINE. No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj. Bright,crisp,clean,glossy,wrap-around,Python-esque colour and monochrome cut-out montage'd photographic images illustrated dw/dj,with black-lettered title and author/editor name to front of dw/dj; spine/backstrip with repeated title+author/editor name but in white lettering and publisher's white-lettered name inside a horizntal,rectangular b/w illustrated colophon at foot of same,rear panel of dw/dj with continuation of front's imagery.Negligible shelf-wear to edges and corners - no nicks,tears or splits present,Top+fore-edges remarkabley clean without ageing/toning,dust-soilong or foxing/spotting; contents bright,tight,clean, solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners appears unread other than my collation.Publisher's bright, crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,original plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt-lettered spine and facsimile b/w assorted books' dw/dj illustrated endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,illustrated,1st edn,8-304pp [paginated] includes verso of an Illustrations list/table, Editpr's Note,a 21pp Introduction,The Diaries in 3 sections: Locations and timespans - each with a double-page,autobiographical b/w photographic separator pages,24pp of contemporary autobiographical and other b/w photographs in 3 blocks of 8pp apiece,between pp64/65, pp128/29 and pp192/93 respectively; Appendices (3): The Edna Welthorpe Letters,a Chronology,a List of published works,and an Index.Plus [unpaginated] half-title,b/w subject's b/w portrait photographic frntis,title page,a Contents list/table,recto of Illustations list/table,List of published works and the sections' photographic separator pages. Visually,the external appearance is exceptional,and  particularly internally,is also in an exceptional condition/state of preservation and presentation for a book of it’s 35+ year-old age.It really is an exceptional, exemplary example for it’s brightnesss, cleanliness and lack of other or age-acquired detracting faults usually encountered in a book of comparable age. To be young, good-looking, healthy, famous, comparatively rich and happy is surely going against nature.    When Joe Orton (1933-1967) wrote those words in his diary in May 1967, he was being hailed as the greatest comic playwright since Oscar Wilde for his darkly hilarious Entertaining Mr. Sloane and the farce hit Loot,and was completing What the Butler Saw; but less than three months later, his longtime companion, Kenneth Halliwell, smashed in Orton's skull with a hammer before killing himself.                    The locations and timespans of the diaries includes London,December 1966 - May 1967, Tangier,May - June 1967 and London,July- August 1967.  'The Orton Diaries',written during his last eight months, chronicle in a remarkably candid style his outrageously unfettered life: his literary success, capped by an Evening Standard Award and overtures from the Beatles.They chronicle his sexual escapades in the most unlikely places - at his mother's funeral,in a pissoir on the Holloway Road,with a dwarf in Brighton,and,extensively,in Tangier.They chronicle the breakdown of his sixteen-year 'marriage' to Halliwell,a relationship that had transformed Orton from a provincial nobody to one of the most talented comic playwright since Oscar Wilde.And they chronicle the high-life and the low-life of Britain during six months of supreme excitiement in the sixties when everything seemed possible.                      Stylistically,the diaries show Orton,with 'Loot' an established hit and 'What the Butler Saw' in the making,at the very top of his form,outrageous and outrageously funny.Edited with a superb introduction by John Lahr,Orton's distinguished biographer,with numerous contextual footnotes and two dozen previously unpublished pictures,these diaries are Orton's last major work,available for the very first time nearly twenty years after his death.'The Orton Diaries' is his crowning achievement.   Please contact the seller,particularly ALL overseas buyers,for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes BEFORE placing your order,especially if ordering any multiples. N.B. ALL buyers please note,stock(s) shipping quotes are adjusted for any refunds AFTER receipt of order and BEFORE the despatch of the order,especially if the item is offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: US 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,illustrated,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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