The Return of The Soldier; A Play in Three Acts

London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1928. First U.K. Edition. Small Octavo. 19cm. Publisher's original black cloth titled in black on a red background to spine. Dustjacket. 116pp. Bright and vibrant, in a clean, strong buff card dustjacket with some toning to the spine panel. A very good copy indeed. Internally clean, some offsetting to pastedowns and flyleaves. An emotive dramatic sketch, set in 1916, dealing with soldiers returning from war irrevocably changed, and the havoc that wreaks upon those they left behind, adapted from Rebecca West's novel it was something of a departure from Van Druten's rather brittle drawing room wit. Van Druten lived a turbulent life, dying in his mid-50's under undisclosed circumstances, and is probably best known as the author of "I am A Camera" in 1951, based on Isherwood's "Goodbye To Berlin" and which provided in part the basis for Kander & Ebb's "Cabaret." In a piece of rather creative defiance against queer relationships having no civil or legal grounding at the time, Van Druten left his ex-partner Carter Lodge the rights to his work, amongst other benefits, thus ensuring that he could profit from the continued success of "Cabaret.