The Merchant of Yonkers

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1939. First Edition. Signed and inscribed by the author Thornton Wilder to actress Carol Channing in black and red ink on a 4 1/2” x 6 1/8” sheet of his personal printed stationery which has been affixed to the front free endpaper. The inscription is written within a 3” diameter red ink circle drawn by Wilder: “This is the first Dolly-imprint. She sends her love to the great-hearted all-winning Carol. Thousands and thousands will miss you. Don’t be away too long. And with love, too, from Isabel [Thornton’s sister] and Thornton, (truncated) June 1967”. The parts of the inscription in red are: “She sends her love to”, “Carol”, “Don’t be away too long.”, and with a rectanglular box around “love”. Very good copy with some minor edge wear and darkening to the cloth in a lightly handled dust jacket with some darkening, mostly to the spine and rear panel, and some small chips and tears. Carol Channing is perhaps best known for her performance as Dolly Gallagher Levi in the Broadway musical Hello, Dolly!, based on Wilder’s play The Merchant of Yonkers, which he revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955. The musical Hello Dolly!, music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, book by Michael Stewart, opened on Broadway at the St. James Theatre on January 16, 1964 starring Carol Channing, David Burns, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Eileen Brennan. Channing left the Broadway production in August 1965 and took the show on the road with The National Company, closing on June 11, 1967 in Houston. The story follows the tale of Dolly Gallagher Levi, a strong-willed matchmaker, as she travels to Yonkers, New York to find a match for the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder. Thornton Niven Wilder (1897 – 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes—for the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and for the plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth — and a U.S. National Book Award for the novel The Eighth Day. Interestingly, Wilder planned to rewrite his 1942 play The Skin of Our Teeth, with Channing playing the parts of both Mrs. Antrobus and Sabina, but died before he could finish it. Carol Elaine Channing (1921 - 2019) was a legendary singer and actress with a fine sense of comedic timing, a distinctive smile and voice, and a generous spirit. She was the recipient of three Tony Awards (including one for lifetime achievement), a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. Other highlights of her career on both stage and screen include Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Vamp, and Thoroughly Modern Millie. (Inventory #: 22725E)