TRYPANIS, Constantine Athanasius (1909-93). "Take a Soldier Take a King. A tragedy in three acts," [Oxford], 1957, original typescript on 75-pages of A4, in a cloth-backed folder. With an autograph letter from the author.

TRYPANIS, Constantine Athanasius (1909-93).  "Take a Soldier Take a King. A tragedy in three acts." [Oxford], 1957. Original typescript on 75-pages of A4 (255 x 200mm), typed on the rectos only, with a few authorial autograph corrections in black ink, contained in a contemporary cloth-backed paper folder (a "Patent 'Loxon' Loose-leaf Binder"), with a typed title label on the upper wrapper. Included in the lot is a covering letter by the author, signed ("Constantine Trypanis"), dated "Friday 5 p.m. [no month, [?]1957]", stating, "Dear Mr MacOwan, I came round to see you, and bring the Byzantine play I promised you. I would be very grateful if you and Mrs MacOwan (who I understand is interested in Byzantium) could have a look at it, and tell me what you think of it. My offer for talks on Greek Tragedy (gratis) is open, after January 1958 any time. With all good wishes and many thanks, Yrs very sincerely, Constantine Trypanis (Professor of Medieval and Modern Greek at the University of Oxford). P. S. My address is: Exeter College Oxford." Constantine Trypanis was the Bywater and Sotheby Professor of Byzantine and Modern Greek at Exeter College, Oxford, from 1947 to 1967, and was, according to Peter Levi's obituary in The Independent, "... the best medieval and modern Greek scholar of his generation." He went on to become Professor of Classics at the University of Chicago from 1968 to 1974 and the Minister of Culture and Science in the Greek Government from 1974 to 1977. He published six collections of poetry between 1955 and 1972 which were well-received and met with the approval of W. H. Auden and T. S. Eliot, among others; of these, The Stones of Troy (1957) was the Poetry Book Society choice for its year and The Cocks of Hades (1958) won the Heinemann Award. The present play, written in blank verse, was unpublished, probably never performed and is unrecorded: this is almost certainly the only copy in existence. The recipient of Trypanis's letter is probably Michael MacOwan (1906-80), English actor and director, and Principal of LAMDA from 1958 to 1966. Loosely-inserted is an unrelated single page of typescript, apparently part (p.3 only) of a literary review. Provenance: from the Collection of the late Robert Michael Booth (1945-2024), publisher, writer, collector and broadcaster.