AN EXCEPTIONAL COPY: ACCLAIMED NOVELIST AND PLAYWRIGHT J.M. BARRIE'S QUALITY STREET, SUMPTUOUSLY ILLUSTRATED AND SIGNED BY HUGH THOMSON

(THOMSON, Hugh) BARRIE, James M. Quality Street. (London): Hodder & Stoughton, [1913]. Folio, original full vellum, elaborately gilt-decorated cover and spine, yellow satin ribbon ties. $1200.

Limited illustrated edition of this drama by Peter Pan novelist and playwright J.M. Barrie, number 561 of 1000 copies signed by illustrator Hugh Thomson, with 22 mounted color plates and 17 in-text line cuts, in beautiful publisher's vellum-gilt binding.

Quality Street, a four-act comedy, was an early attempt at drama by Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie. While Quality Street lasted only 64 performances on Broadway during its initial run, the British production was a smash hit, lasting over 450 performances. It was often revived in the years preceding World War II. "Thomson's career was providentially sustained by the development of the color plate… [beginning] in 1909 with the publication of six plays in a sumptuous uniform format in full color reproduced by improved methods. Thomson's 172 color plates for the plays constitute one of the most substantial and successful efforts to illustrate English plays" (Hodnett, 219). Barrie's Quality Street was one of those six plays. Gallery invitation to exhibit of Thomson's watercolor originals laid in.

Fine condition, with satin ties intact.