The last time a copy of this book came up for public sale was nearly fifty years ago, at Swann Auction Galleries in New York, May 6, 1976, lot 304.

Few copies are known to exist, doubtless fewer in this sort of Fine, original condition (and with a most dignified provenance). This 1913 unpublished proof copy is arguably the most desirable edition of Shaw's most famous play.

Of the more than sixty plays that George Bernard Shaw wrote, PYGMALION is certainly his most widely admired work. In 1964, it was re-imagined as the Oscar-dominating film starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. It was adapted into the 1938 film starring Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller, and later into the famous musical play MY FAIR LADY with Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison. The title comes from Greek mythology wherein the sculptor Pygmalion falls in love with his sculpture, a creator who falls in love with his creation, The plot of Shaw's play, in which an idealistic professor transforms an unsophisticated Cockney girl into a refined young lady, set in turn-of-the-century London, brings this concept to life. Newton copy (Parke-Bernet, 1941), an exceedingly rare survival, here found in remarkably Fine original condition. Shaw often produced a tiny number of these proofs for use as prompt copies, in this case for the rehearsals of the first performances of PYGMALION in 1914 at Her Majesty's Theatre in London.

First Edition, an unpublished 'rough' proof in original blue wrappers. PYGMALION: A PLAY IN FIVE ACTS: By a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Pygmalion play book buy