A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

(New York): New Directions, 1947. First edition. Near fine in a near fine jacket.. Signed first printing of Williams's most enduring play, a beautiful copy in the iconic Lustig-designed dust jacket. The broken dreams of a Southern belle are dramatized in Williams's best known play, a hit on Broadway with Jessica Tandy and Marlon Brando in the lead roles (both then virtually unknown). After its brilliant run on stage, STREETCAR went through a groundbreaking adaptation into film, keeping many of the same people involved: Brando garnered his first Oscar nomination in the film, starring alongside Vivian Leigh. According to Geoffrey Shurlock, who was involved in the Production Code Administration that monitored the morality of motion pictures, STREETCAR changed the landscape of how films could communicate drama for adult audiences: "Tennessee Williams was something new to movies... The stage got a shock from Tennessee Williams. We got twice the shock. Now we know that a good deal of what we decide in censoring movies is not morality but taste. It began with STREETCAR" (quoted in Palmer and Bray). This first edition has since become famous in its own right for the brilliant pink jacket design by Alvin Lustig, a high point of New Directions' publications. 9'' x 6''. Original pink pictorial boards with design by Alvin Lustig. In original unclipped ($2.75) pink pictorial dust jacket echoing board design. 171, [1] pages. Signed by Williams on front free endpaper. Book with mild rubbing to top and bottom edges, as typical. Tiny chip to top edge of front panel of jacket. Some faint uneven sunning to spine, front, and rear panel. Top edge a little dusty. Else clean and bright.