A Bill of Divorcement; a play in three acts [*SIGNED* by the entire original cast]

London: William Heinemann. Poor. 1921. Unstated edition. Softcover. (printed wraps) [very worn, with most of the spine gone -- but the main problem is that it's been very crudely "repaired" by a previous owner (using 2x4 address labels, of all things): one label applied externally (to hold the detached front cover in place) and THREE more internally to piece back together the half-title page, which had been ripped down the middle both vertically and horizontally; plus general age-toning, dog-earing at corners, etc.]. A much-abused copy of the published version of this venerable drama of divorce and insanity, first staged in London in 1921 and very soon thereafter on Broadway, and subsequently filmed three times: as a 1922 British silent, a 1932 talkie starring John Barrymore and Katharine Hepburn (the latter's film debut), and again in 1940. What makes this copy, for all its manifest depredations, still a collectable item is that it is SIGNED by the playwright (on the aforementioned torn-and-repaired-and-detached half-title page) and the entire cast of the original London production: Lilian Braithwaite, Agnes Thomas, Meggie Albanesi, Dorothy Martin, C. Aubrey Smith, Ian Hunter, Malcolm Keen, Stanley Lathbury, and Fewlass Llewellyn. Not exactly names that resonate much a hundred years later, although fans of classic cinema will readily recognize the names of Smith and Hunter, both of whom later made their way to America and were reliable character players in dozens of Hollywood films. In terms of rarity, the most notable among these signatures might be that of Meggie Albanesi, who tragically died (allegedly as the result of an illegal abortion) at the age of 24, just a couple of years after appearing in this play as "Sydney Fairfield," the role later essayed by Katharine Cornell (on the American stage) and Katharine Hepburn (in the 1932 film). Signed by Associated .