After Magritte

London: Faber & Faber, 1971. First Edition. Stiff Card Covers. Fine/Near Fine+. First Impression of the playwright's one-act farce inspired by a surrealist painting. Crown 8vo (199 x 113mm): 47,[1]pp. Publisher's wrappers with French flaps over cream-colored stiff card (no case bound issue published) printed in yellow and black. Wrappers a bit dust-soiled and lightened at top edge, but internally our copy is crisp, clean, and tightly bound. First performed by the Ambiance Lunch-Hour Theatre Club at Green Banana Restaurant, in London, on April 9, 1970. Stoppard got the idea for "After Magritte" while writing the radio play Artist Descending a Staircase, which was based on Marcel Duchamp's painting Nude Descending a Staircase. The setting of the one-act is an unidentified René Magritte painting that suggests the artist's L'assassin menacé, a crime scene in which a nude female corpse with blood around the mouth lies on a red chaise lounge, while a man (the assassin?) listens to a gramophone. Two bowler-hatted men, one with a cudgel, the other with a net, flank the doorway, apparently about to ensnare the assassin. As Magritte places figures in situations devoid of meaning, so Stoppard's characters try to find meaning when none exists. The characters in his play discuss the meaning of a grotesque scene they witnessed after attending a Magritte exhibition. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).