ANDROCLES AND THE LION, OVERRULE, PYGMALION Inscribed to Charles Ricketts

London: Constable, 1916. First Edition. Hardcover. Light wear to joints. Near Fine in a Fine chemise and slipcase. First Printing of one of Shaw's most popular plays, PYGMALION, a radical reworking of Ovid's classic tale with a feminist twist. Shaw wrote PYGMALION for the actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell who appeared to be the only actress willing to say the taboo word "bloody" spoken by her character Eliza Doolittle. In 1938 the play was made into an excellent movie, for which Shaw's screenplay won an Oscar, starring Leslie Howard as Professor Higgins. The play reached a much wider audience when it was transformed by Alan Jay Lerner into the musical MY FAIR LADY and later the film of the same title directed by George Cukor and starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn who replaced an irate Julie Andrews the star of the Broadway musical. The Irish playwright, who wrote more plays than Shakespeare, won the Nobel Prize in 1925 and lived to the age of 94, dying from complications resulting from a broken leg suffered after falling out of a tree. This is a fine association copy INSCRIBED on the half title page and SIGNED "To Charles Ricketts/from Bernard Shaw/14th July 1916." While signed books by Shaw are not rare, signed copies of this work are truly scarce, especially one with such a fine association. Charles Ricketts was a theatre designer who worked not only with Shaw but also with Oscar Wilde and others. He also illustrated books by Wilde, Shaw, and others and established the Vale Press with his partner, Charles Shannon. This copy belonged to William Randolph Hearst and was sold in his sale at Parke Bernet on 22 November 1939, lot 478. Tasteful bookplate of Henry Walker Bagley and Nancy Reynolds Bagley on the front pastedown. Housed in a cloth chemise and a green half-morocco slipcase with gilt lettering and decorations on the spine. (Inventory #: 021146)