Collection of American Theater Director Alan Schneider (1917-1984)

SAMUEL BECKETT

En Attendant Godot. Paris: Les Editions de Minuit, 1952. First trade edition, inscribed on title page "For Alan & Jean, with love from Sam, Paris July 1972" and also signed by director Alan Schneider on the front blank (the trade edition is preceded only by the large paper issue of 35 copies). Original wrappers printed in blue. With some annotation. 7 1/4 x 4 3/4 inches (18.5 x 12 cm); with two inserted leaves with photographic illustration. The text tanned as usual, slight lean, a few stains to covers, short tear to p. 31 and a few minor chips, the spine tips with short splits and the foot slightly peeled up. Federman & Fletcher 259.

Provenance: Collection of Alan Schneider (1917-1984); Following the death of Alan Schneider in 1984, these materials, many of which are inscribed by Beckett to “Alan and Jean,” were retained by Schneider’s widow, Eugenie Schneider, who died in the summer of 2025 at 101 years old.

An important presentation copy of the first edition of Samuel Beckett's En Attendant Godot [Waiting for Godot], inscribed for Alan Schneider, "the primary American director of Samuel Beckett's plays." From the 1950s until his premature death in 1984, Alan Schneider directed most American premieres of Beckett's works, and the two were great friends and correspondents. Beckett's existential "tragicomedy" had been successfully performed in Paris and London before coming to the United States and the relationship between Beckett and Schneider began in 1956 when Schneider was asked to direct the American premiere of Waiting for Godot. Frequently revived and interpreted over the past seventy years as the most enigmatic play in the post-war movement known as The Theatre of the Absurd, Waiting for Godot had its own absurd introduction to America. Originally intended for a premiere in Philadelphia or Washington, and despite starring Bert Lahr (Wizard of Oz) and Tom Ewell (The Seven Year Itch), advance sales were so low that the play was forced to be performed for two weeks at the newly opened Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, where the primary viewers were vacationers. Expecting to see a comedy billed as ''The Laugh Sensation of Two Continents," theatergoers walked out mid-performance. Those who attempted to stay until the end left befuddled. Bert Lahr himself described it as "the biggest flop in the history of the theater'' (New York Times, Taking a Chance on an Unknown Irishman by Mel Gussow, 5 January 2003).

It is unknown when Mr. Schneider procured this copy of En Attendant Godot, but as there are circled passages within and even a question mark on one page, it is likely this copy of the script in its original French served Schneider in his preparations to direct. As noted in the New York Times in Mr. Schneider's obituary:

"During a pioneering and prolific career that lasted 40 years, Alan Schneider became the primary American director of Samuel Beckett's plays ... The turning point in his life was the opportunity in 1956 to introduce Waiting for Godot in America. On meeting Beckett, his first question was ''Who or what does Godot mean?'' The author answered, ''If I knew, I would have said so in the play,'' giving the director a lesson in letting a play speak for itself. It was a lesson he did not forget." (New York Times, Alan Schneider, Pioneering Director, is Dead, May 4, 1984).

When the play moved to New York and opened in April 1956 on Broadway, Mr. Schneider and Mr. Ewell were replaced. Brooks Atkinson described the play as ''a mystery wrapped in an enigma," and it closed after 49 performances. Notably, Waiting for Godot was performed in 1957 at San Quentin State Prison in California. Mr. Schneider would go on to direct Endgame, Happy Days and many other Beckett works in this important period. Alan Schneider would also revisit Godot several more times in his career, including a 1971 off-Broadway production starring Tom Ewell.

Of the utmost rarity, we trace few, and only highly distinguished presentation copies of the 1952 first edition of En Attendant Godot in the auction record. We note the most recent copy, inscribed in 1971 for the Irish collector and Enitharmon Press founder Alan Clodd (sold Sotheby's London, 28 October 2010, lot 12); a copy sold in Paris in 2007 inscribed for Robert Carlier in 1952 who introduced Beckett to the Paris publishers Les Editions de Minuit; and a large paper copy inscribed in the 1970s for the American editor and publisher William Targ.