The Watering Place.

First edition, first printing of Kessler’s play, with “First Printing” stated on the copyright page. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated with production photographs by Bert Andrews. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author to the director of the Broadway production on the front free endpaper, “For Alan, A tough little guy, A workhorse, A fine director, And Especially… A friend. With affection, Lyle, N.Y. 1970.” Alan Schneider directed the Broadway premiere of The Watering Place, which opened at the Music Box Theatre on March 12, 1969 and closed the same night, one of the most celebrated single-performance closings in Broadway history. Schneider was among the foremost American directors of his generation and the great champion of the postwar stage in the United States: he directed the American premiere of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in 1956 and remained Beckett’s preferred American director, staged the United States premieres of Pinter’s plays from the 1962 off-Broadway double bill of The Dumb Waiter and The Collection through the Broadway premiere of The Birthday Party in 1967, and won the 1963 Tony Award for Best Direction for the original production of Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with toning to the spine. An exceptional association copy.