capek karel playfair nigel (16 résultats)

Etat : New.

Etat : good. May show signs of wear, highlighting, writing, and previous use. This item may be a former library book with typical markings. No guarantee on products that contain supplements Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed. Twenty-five year bookseller with shipments to over fifty million happy customers.

Etat : New.

Etat : As New. Unread book in perfect condition.

Paperback. Etat : Brand New. reprint edition. 58 pages. 8.25x5.25x0.25 inches. In Stock.

Etat : good. May show signs of wear, highlighting, writing, and previous use. This item may be a former library book with typical markings. No guarantee on products that contain supplements Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed. Twenty-five year bookseller with shipments to over fifty million happy customers.

Etat : New.

Etat : As New. Unread book in perfect condition.

Etat : New. SUPER FAST SHIPPING.

Soft cover. Etat : Good. 1st Edition. First edition, second impression. Slim paperback, printed covers. 18 × 12cm, 69pp. A remarkable play from the Brothers Capek in which they explore various aspects, characteristics and follies of human life through a series of scenes focusing on different insects. The first act features butterflies, flighty creatures falling in and out of love etc, the second is the insect family, each with their own dream, and the third is set in an ant colony wanting to conquer all other nests and colonies in its vicinity. Both brothers shared a left wing outlook, being critical of the rise of nationalism and fascism, which shows heavily in this work (particularly the third act). Karel died in 1938 but Josef was arrested after the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia and died in Bergen-Belsen towards the end of the war. Condition: A fairly scarce early printing of the UK translation of this play, and it is in good to fair condition. The covers have rubbing and fading to the edges, with a small mark to the front cover. There is slight loss at the spine ends. The joints / hinges are a little delicate but still attached. The text is in good condition, with some light age-toning to the pages but remaining in good readable condition.

Freely adapted for the English Stage by Nigel Playfair and Clifford Bax.Translated from the Czech by Paul Selver. (illustrateur). Octavo, original wraps, pp 69. Previous owner's name blind-stamped, very good condition. Satirical play.

Etat : New.

Stiff Wraps. 9th impression. Repr., translated from Czech, original black wraps with red lettering front wrap, pp 102, i, Previous owner's blind stamap front wrap, bookseller ticket inside. Small mark last (blank) page, otherwise clean. Small chip foot of backstrip. Very good condition. Science fiction play by the Czech writer Karel Capek, first performed in England in 1923. The play introduced the word "robot" to the English language and to science fiction as a whole, and has been enormously influential in popular culture. In 1938 a 35-minute adaptation of a section of the play was broadcast on BBC Television: the first piece of television science-fiction ever to be broadcast. The robots in the play eventually rebel against and exterminate the human race. One critic has described Capek's robots as epitomizing "the traumatic transformation of modern society by the First World War and the Fordist assembly line", although Capek himself saw the play as part comedy and ending with faith that humanity would survive albeit in a different form. Early printings of the play are uncommon.

Soft cover. Etat : Very Good. 1st Edition. First Uk Edition, First Print, small octavo, pp. [1-5] 6-69 [70-72: blank], original lavender wrappers printed in black. First edition in English. Also known as "The Insect Play" (a.k.a. "The World We Live In"). "Perhaps the most brilliant of his plays, and the only unquestionable fantasy drama among them . mocks human life and pretensions through a series of beast-fable episodes in which various insects perform vaudeville versions of human behavior at the edge of extinction." - Clute and Grant (ed), The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, p. 164. Not in Bleiler (1948; 1978). Not in Reginald (1979). Barron (ed), Fantasy Literature 3-75. Wear to the spine and uneven fade to the wrappers,internally clean. C.H. Norman's copy with his signature to the copyright page.

Paperback. Etat : Very Good. None (illustrateur). First edition. A smart copy of the first UK edition of Karel Capek's science-fiction play. An important work of twentieth century science fiction, remarkable for introducing the word 'robot' to modern language. The first UK edition; translated into English in the same year in a US edition published by Doubleday. These two adaptations differ.First performed in the original Czech in 1921, the work quickly became influential, and by 1923 had been translated into thirty languages.Capek coined the word 'robot' in the play, based on the Czech word 'robota', or 'forced labor'.With blank paper mounted to the verso of the title page, covering the cast list of the first UK performance; this was done by the publishers to the first edition for copyright reasons.With the inscription of Percy Clark, dated June 1923, to the head of the title page.Single advertisement leaf to the rear.A very smart copy of a first edition of this important work of science fiction, set in a factory that makes artificial people that have been created from synthetic organ matter. Initially happy to work for humans, the robots revolt and cause the extinction of the human race. Rebacked in cloth, retaining the publisher's original paper wraps. Fading to back strip, with minor closed tear to fore edge of rear wrap. Head of front wrap detaching from title page at margin, but holding firm. Internally, firmly bound. Inscription to title page head. Blank sheet pasted over cast list to verso of title page. Pages clean and bright. Very Good. book.

First British Edition. First British edition. 102, [1, ad], [1, blank] pp. Bound in publisher's black wraps lettered in red. Small chip in top of front wrap near head, else Near Fine with typical slip pasted over cast on copyright page and associated wrinkling. This sci-fi play is the origin of the word "robot," borrowed from the Czech word "robota," for forced labor.