The Doctor's Dilemma, Getting Married, & The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet by Shaw, G.B - 1911

London: Constable and Co., Ltd., 1911. First printing.

1911 FINE FIRST EDITION OF 3 OF GB SHAW'S EDGY EARLY 20TH CENTURY PLAYS EDITED BY HIM, INCLUDING THE DOCTOR'S DILELMMA, A BITING SATIRE OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

7 inches tall hardcover, pale green cloth binding, spine gilt, top edge gilt, armorial bookplate of "Everett" to front paste-down, no other ownership marks. xciv, 407 pp, 4 pp list of works by same author. Fine in elaborate blue cloth-covered slipcase with folding protective insert; slipcase with leather spine, raised bands, gilt title, light wear to corners and edges. First printing of a collection of 3 plays by Shaw, each preceded by a preface by the author. The preface to the first play, The Doctor's Dilemma, is 94 pages, while the play is 105 pages long. This preface begins, "It is not the fault of our doctors that the medical service of the community, as at present provided for, is a murderous absurdity." The Doctor's Dilemma was first staged in 1906. It is a problem play about the moral dilemmas created by limited medical resources, and the conflicts between the demands of private medicine as a business and a vocation. The Preface to the play is an extensive tirade against the professions, and in particular the medical profession, as being excessively given to protestations of the public good and the actual pursuit of private interest. At the time of this play he was a highly successful dramatist, with works such as Man and Superman and Major Barbara enjoying international acclaim. The Doctor's Dilemma would come to be seen as the greatest satire on the medical profession since Molière's Malade Imaginaire. The play also mentions (then) new developments in the germ theory of disease, namely opsonins, and included socialist and anti-vivisectionist viewpoints. The play also mentions (then) new developments in the germ theory of disease, namely opsonins, and included socialist and anti-vivisectionist viewpoints. The theme of the play remains current: in any time, there will be treatments that are so scarce or costly that some people can have them while others cannot. Who is to decide, and on which grounds is the decision to be taken?

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (1856 – 1950), was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1913) and Saint Joan (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. During the first decade of the twentieth century, Shaw secured a firm reputation as a playwright. The Doctor's Dilemma (1906) is a mostly serious piece about professional ethics. Now prosperous and established, Shaw experimented with unorthodox theatrical forms. These plays included Getting Married (premiered 1908) and The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet (1909). Blanco Posnet was banned on religious grounds by the Lord Chamberlain (the official theatre censor in England), and was produced instead in Dublin; it filled the Abbey Theatre to capacity.