Delaney, Shelagh (1938-2011) A Taste of Honey. New York: Grove Press, Inc., [1959].
First, limited edition, octavo, number 23 of 50 specially bound copies, in original publisher's cloth-backed boards, gilt lettered spine (spine sunned, some fraying to spine caps, corners exposed, boards a bit rubbed with a section of toning to upper board); 8 x 5 1/4 in.
Written when Delaney was only 19 years old, this powerful play addresses issues of gender roles, race, and sexuality in 1950s England. Originally conceived as a novel, Delaney transformed the narrative into a play in hopes of reviving the stagnant British theater scene and bringing awareness of political and social issues to a wider public audience. Its debut at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in May 1958 was received with mixed, though sensational reviews, with Kenneth Tynan writing, "Miss Delaney brings real people onto her stage, joking and flaring and scuffling and, eventually, out of the zest for life she gives them, surviving." Shelagh Delaney blazed a radical new path for British theater with this work. By addressing social unrest, she created a space for under-represented communities into the theater world.
See Selina Todd's Tastes of Honey: The Making of Shelagh Delaney and a Cultural Revolution.
Property from the Estate of Michael Feingold (1945-2022).
