The Confidential Clerk

First edition. First state (with misprint "Ihad" for "I had" on p.7, line 2). Slim 8vo. Pp. 134, [2]. Publisher's cobalt blue cloth boards, lettered in gilt to spine. In first issue pale yellow dustwrapper printed in red and black and priced "10s 6d" on the front flap (later increased to "12s 6d"). Includes cast list of the first production at the 1953 Edinburgh Festival (August 25 – September 5), produced by Henry Sherek and directed by E. Martin Browne. 1/20,000 copies printed.

Neat presentation inscription to front flyleaf, mild spotting to textblock edges, prelims. and dustwrapper, else Fine.

Eliot's third full-length verse play. A comedy of mistaken identity about a wealthy entrepreneur who attempts to smuggle his illegitimate son into the household by employing him as his confidential clerk. "The dialogue of The Confidential Clerk has a precision and a lightly felt rhythm unmatched in the writing of any contemporary dramatist." –Times Literary Supplement

[Gallup, A64a]