118 130
274
●
WILLIAMS,TENNESSEE.
A Streetcar Named Desire.
8vo, publisher’s pictor-
ial lavender boards designed by Alvin Lustig, extremities rubbed with some exposure to
boards, spine tips and corners; dust jacket, moderate fingersoiling, tape repairs to spine
panel verso and along length of flap folds on recto, spine panel faded with some abrading,
edgewear including head of spine panel and small portion of upper front panel chipped but
with no loss of letters, corners narrowly clipped retaining price; contents clean.
(NewYork): New Directions, (1947)
[15,000/20,000]
FIRST EDITION SIGNED BY WILLIAMS AND SIX OF THE PRINCIPAL MEMBERS OF THE ORIGINAL
BROADWAY CAST
.
Besides the author, this copy bears the signatures of Gee Gee James, Peg Hillias,
Kim Hunter, Karl Malden, Jessica Tandy, and Marlon Brando, who added a brief inscription. The
autographs accomplished in either ink or pencil, and all are clear with no smudging.
ASSOCIATION COPY
,
EX
-
COLLECTION HERBERT ADRIAN REHNER
,
with his signature, dated
1948, on front pastedown. Rehner was a college classmate of one of Karl Malden’s younger brothers,
and the two made numerous trips to NewYork in the 1940s. It was during this time they were intro-
duced to the actors that director Elia Kazan had assembled for the Broadway debut of Williams’ play.
Rehner was a frequent dinner guest of Williams’ during this period, though the extent of their friend-
ship is not well documented. Herbert Rehner was also a survivor of the USS Indianapolis, spent a
year as a student then teacher at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and was one of the
early recipients of a Fullbright Fellowship. Copies signed by the author and cast members are rare,
those with a compelling provenance rarer still. Crandell A5.1.a.