A Severed Head. A Play in Three Acts.

First edition. 12mo. Pp. 107, [1]. Turquoise textured paper boards, lettered in gilt to spine. In a pink and white dustwrapper, printed in black and white.

Fine price-clipped dustjacket w/ blank publisher's label affixed to lower edge of front flap.

A dramatisation of Iris Murdoch's 1961 satirical novel of marriage and adultery amongst a privileged set of the London bourgeoisie. It premiered by the Bristol Old Vic Company at the Theatre Royal, Bristol on Tuesday, 7th May, 1963 in a production directed by Val May, and starring Robert Hardy, Heather Chasen, Shelia Burrell, Paul Eddington and Barbara Leigh-Hunt. Its eventual transfer to the Criterion Theatre, London, ran for 1,044 performances.

A prominent British novelist and philosopher, of Irish descent, Murdoch's novels focus primarily on issues of morality, spirituality and sexuality, themes she further explored in her copious philosophical writings. "[A] dazzling piece of entertainment." –The Times