GRAVES, Robert John Kemp’s Wager [in] The British Drama League Library of Modern British Drama, No. 11

Small 8vo., parchment-backed paper-covered boards with onlaid decorative title labels printed in green and black to both covers; spine lettered in gilt; outer edges untrimmed; contained, unusually, in the original publisher’s glassine; pp. [x], xi-xv, [i], 75, [v]; an excellent, near-fine example with just a hint of rubbing to the outer edges of boards and the odd spot internally; seemingly unread, with many pages entirely unopened; the glassine with some nicks and short closed tears; chip to foot of spine; seldom found at all. 

Limited edition. This copy no. 2 of just 100 copies printed on Kelmscott handmade paper, hand numbered and signed by Robert Graves to the limitation page. The text was selected by the reading committee of the British Drama League. 

A lyrical ballad opera, inspired by traditional English folklore, which centres around the protagonist John Kemp, a character based on a real-life Elizabethan actor, dancer and entertainer who once danced from London to Norwich. The plot follows Kemp as he accepts a wager to perform a series of musical and physical tasks which include Morris dancing, fighting and more. Graves intended for the play to be set to music, and in one recorded letter wrote that he had the specific notion of commissioning Vaughan Williams to write the corresponding opera - a project which sadly never came to fruition. 

Written just a few years after the end of the Second World War, the play represents a specific shift in Graves’ influences, embodying the mythical, poetic and traditional elements which would later define his writing style. 

One of Graves’ more obscure plays, and this particular example early in the limitation run. Rare with the glassine.  

SKU: 1800233