Daybreak - A Play in Three Acts - By Catherine Shepherd
first edition
1942 · Melbourne/London
by LEIGH, VIVIEN & CATHERINE SHEPHERD
Melbourne/London: Melbourne University Press in associationwith Oxford University Press, 1942. First Edition, First Printing. Laid in is an Autograph Letter Signedfrom the author Catherine Shepherd to Vivien Leigh, 2 pages, 8vo, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 27 September 1942. “Dear Miss Leigh, I am sending you my play ‘Daybreak’. It has been produced by the National Theatre League in Melbourne, the Independent Theatre & the Sydney Players’ Club in Sydney, besides the first production by the Hobart Repertory Theatre Society. I believe that you could play the part of ‘Jeanne’ as no other actress could. But I know that a production of the play in London would be too much to hope for. At any rate , will you please accept this copy with my deep admiration for your great gifts & for all I have read of you . . .” Paperbound. Spine slightly faded; bookseller ticket of W.E. Fuller, Hobart. The play, Daybreak, set in Van Diemen’s Land, would be Shepherd’s most successful stage play. The Australian Dictionary of Biography describes Shepherd as “gracious, unassuming and gentle”, but she achieved a measure of national fame with her radio plays and adaptations. (Inventory #: 15643J)