THE BRECHT CRUSADER IN AMERICA

Bentley, Eric (1916–2020); Playwright, Translator, and Critic

The Off-Broadway Manifestos [Inscribed Presentation Libretto, Production Programs, Correspondence, and Private Ephemera]

New York: Program Publishing Co. / HB Playwrights Foundation, 1957- 1967.

ARTISTIC & HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
This exceptional, four-part publisher's archive maps a decade-long intellectual partnership at the center of the post-war New York theatrical avant-garde.

+++ The Realized Manifesto: The 1961 Columbia Players program represents the physical manifestation of Eric Bentley's lifelong crusade to establish Bertolt Brecht within the canon of American drama. By placing a photograph of his direct collaboration with Brecht at the center of the text, Bentley visually codified his authority as the hand-chosen gatekeeper of Brechtian theory in the English-speaking world.
+++ The Publisher’s Intersection: Crucially, the collection derives its ultimate significance from its survival within the archive of publisher Ben Raeburn. It marks the exact point where public theatrical performance intersected with the private, backend planning of Horizon Press, which actively sought to capture these same avant-garde theater audiences through boutique editions.
+++ The Arc of Innovation: Spanning 1956 to 1967, the archive captures Bentley introducing Brecht’s Marxist theories to collegiate stages, adapting classic European opera into witty, modern off-Broadway satire, and debuting premier experimental scripts under the direction of theatrical titans like Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen, while his letters to Raeburn reveal the behind-the-scenes legal and financial friction required to keep that movement alive.

MATERIAL & BIBLIOGRAPHICAL UTILITY
+++ The 'What': A cohesive, four-piece primary research cache consisting of a signed presentation opera libretto (1956), a double-bill off-Broadway production program (1961), a highly candid publishing text letter signed (1965), and a scarce, privately issued Greenwich Village performance invitation (1967).
+++ The Inscribed Anchor: A first-printing copy of Eric Bentley’s libretto for Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld (New York: Program Publishing Company, 1472 Broadway, 1956). The striking architectural border layout on the front cover features an intimate presentation inscription penned in ink at the head panel: To Ben ———— From Eric.
+++ The Production Anchor: The original 8-page stapled pictorial program for the Columbia Players’ 1961 double-bill production of Nikolai Gogol’s The Gamblers and Bertolt Brecht’s The Exception and the Rule (English versions by Bentley, directed by Isaiah Sheffer, music by Stefan Wolpe).

CONDITION 
+++ The 1956 Libretto: Good. The light blue pictorial wraps are tight and internally clean with an unblemished, bold ink presentation inscription on the front cover. The text block remains secure. There is a distinct area of mechanical loss/chipping to the upper right corner of the rear wrapper  which extends through to the upper left corner of the final leaf (page 35/36), slightly affecting a handwritten ink annotation on the final page The extremities show light handling wear and minor perimeter age-toning. Internally, the volume features significant contemporary ink transcriptions on page 3 and an editorial pencil correction on page 35 believed to be in the hand of Eric Bently.
+++ The 1961 Program: Very Good. The stapled pictorial wraps are tight, crisp, and square, showing only light handling wear to the extremities and minor hand-soiling and minor rubs near the staples, which remain firm and free of oxidation. Internally pristine and unmarked.
+++ The 1965 Letter: Very Good. Single-page quarto sheet with crisp type and a vibrant signature in red ink. Shows typical light perimeter toning and original horizontal mailing folds.
+++ The 1967 Invitation: Fine. Clean, single sheet of cream wove paper with sharp, clear type , tri-folded.
+++ Provenance: The Estate of Ben Raeburn (Horizon Press).
+++ Specs: Libretto is an octavo, 24 pages. Program is an octavo, 8 pages. Letter is a single-page quarto. Invitation is a single-page quarto sheet.
+++Transcriptions: Full text transcription of the 1965 correspondence is available.

SCHOLARLY FEATURES: DESIGN, SCHOLARSHIP, & INFLUENCE —
+++ The Validation of Authority:The center of the 1961 program features an explicit essay titled A Message from Eric Bentley paired with his precise, rhythmic translation of Brecht's poem 'To Those Born Later'. Crucially, page 4 preserves a landmark 1950 halftone photograph of Eric Bentley working side-by-side as Bertolt Brecht's direct assistant during a production of Mother Courage, serving as a permanent visual codification of his gatekeeper authority.
+++ The Creative Counter-Attack: The inscribed 1956 libretto documents the subversive humor that defined Bentley’s English adaptations. Page 3 features contemporary reviews written by Bently, capturing the visceral shock of the New York press establishment: the NY Journal American hails it as the sauciest libretto ever heard in the opera house, while the NY World Telegram brands it highly clever text... a highly naughty one too, achieving at times... versified smut.
+++ The Publishing Warfare: The August 27, 1965 Typed Letter Signed (TLS) captures the backend maneuvers required to protect Bentley's intellectual property from major commercial trade houses.
He coordinates real-time strategy with Raeburn to outmaneuver Knopf and Beacon Press ('Between them, Knopf and Beacon could make the project impossible for you: would they?"), while delivering a witty commentary on his own legacy: 'What would be the best occasion and date for a Bentley on Theatre?... I am not Dead -- that wd be a superb occasion but I am not intending to oblige.'
+++ The Elite Greenwich Village Circle: A scarce, single-sheet quarto invitation from The H B Playwrights Foundation, Inc. (120 Bank Street) inviting Raeburn to a private April 1967 run of Commitments, a new play by Eric Bentley. The document maps the elite, interconnected mid-century modernist network, boasting a curatorial and advisory board in the left margin that includes Boris Aronson, Saul Bellow, Herbert Berghof, Leonard Bernstein, Hume Cronyn, Uta Hagen, and Paul A. Porter.

Subjects: Bertolt Brecht, Eric Bentley, Ben Raeburn, Horizon Press, Off-Broadway History, Columbia University, HB Playwrights Foundation, Uta Hagen, Herbert Berghof, Stefan Wolpe, Isaiah Sheffer, Publishing History, New York Avant-Garde.

Item #22049

Price: $375.00