half title, with list of three titles of “Works by George Moore” within single-rule box on verso, pp [i-ii];
title page, with “Copyright 1913” in lower left comer of verso, pp [iii-iv];
list of acts and settings of the play, verso blank, pp [v-vi];
playbill of first performance, verso blank, pp [vii-viii];
PREFACE pp ix-xv;
p [xvi] blank;
text pp 1-[153] with pp [36] and [94] blank and

PRINTED BY

BALLANTYNE & COMPANY LTD

AT THE BALLANTYNE PRESS

TAVISTOCK STREET COVENT GARDEN

LONDON

at foot of p [153];

pp [154-56] blank;
white endpapers;
all edges trimmed;
bound in gray-green paper-covered boards, back and front covers plain,
with a white paper label on spine lettered in green

ESTHER

WATERS

ornament

GEORGE

MOORE

ornament

LONDON:

HEINEMANN

1913

all within a hairline-rule box

There are three states of the spine label and two binding variants, resulting in four separate issues of the first English edition:

As above, with a rounded spine.
As above, with rounded spine, and with lettering on spine label expanded by the insertion of

A PLAY IN

FIVE ACTS

following title and above first ornament.

As above, with a flat spine, and with the revised label.
As above, with flat spine and new spine label reset from slightly different type and type ornaments, and with date omitted. In a letter dated 2 July 1925 (now in the Frank Fayant collection), answering a query from A.J.A. Symons regarding the omission of the date, E. Brett of Heinemann’s explained, “The binders tell me that it was in the last binding order that they discovered that they had lost the labels. This being so, 800 copies would have the date on and about 170 would be without it.” From this it appears that the publishers, and presumably Mr. Symons, were unaware of the earliest state of the label without the explanatory subtitle.

The text is a dramatization of a portion of Esther Waters (A19). The play was recommended to the Stage Society by George Bernard Shaw and was produced for two performances at the Apollo Theatre, London, opening 10 December 1911. A copy of the playbill of this production is given on p [vii].

Hone mentions (pp 293 and 301) that Lennox Robinson assisted in the dramatization, a fact

confirmed by Robinson in a recorded interview used by W.R. Rodgers in an April 1953 BBC broadcast and later published in Irish Literary Portraits, edited by Mr. Rodgers (London 1972

and New York 1973).

For an account of another and later unpublished dramatization, see "George Moore at Work," by Barrett H. Clark, in American Mercury (February 1925) and reprinted in Intimate Portraits (New York, 1951). A film adaptation of Esther Waters made by Michael Gordon and William Rose was produced in 1948 by Wessex Film Productions and distributed by the Rank organization. It was produced and directed by Ian Dalrymple and Peter Proud, with Kathleen Ryan, Dirk Bogarde, Fay Compton, Cyril Cusack, Margaret Diamond, Morland Graham, and George Hager among those in the large cast.

Nearly twenty years later another adaptation of the book was made by Douglas Livingston for BBC Two, which was presented in four fifty-five minute programmes 10, 17, 24 April and 1 May 1977, and repeated 12, 19, 26 March and 2 April 1978.

Also an adaptation and abridgement was made by Allan McClelland in fifteen parts for BBC Radio 4. This was read by Joan Plowright, starting 13 March 1978, on the “Book at Bedtime” programme.

Earlier another dramatic version was broadcast by BBC circa late 1964 or early 1965, but details of this production have not been located.

A32-a2 First edition, American issue

In April 1913 an American edition of the play, Esther Waters, was published at $1.25, using sheets and binding of the first edition (A32-a) with the first two preliminary leaves and spine label reset: p [ii] blank; publisher’s imprint on title page changed to

BOSTON: JOHN W. LUCE AND COMPANY

1913

in smaller type;

Printed in England

added to center of title leaf verso, and copyright notice in lower left corner omitted; rounded spine, and publisher’s imprint on label changed to

JOHN W.

LUCE & CO.

1913

A32-b & c First edition of two revised texts

Title Page

THE

CELEBRATED

CASE OF

ESTHER WATERS

The Collaboration of

George Moore and

Barrett H. Clark on

“Esther Waters: A Play”

four lines of subtitle in gray

W. Eugene Davis

Purdue University [in gray]

UNIVERSITY

PRESS OF

AMERICA [publisher’s tree device in circle within square box]

LANHAM * NEW YORK * LONDON [names of three localities in gray]

Launch

Published December 1984 at $10.50 soft bound; and January 1985 at $22.75

hardbound [latter not seen].

Description

Height: 8 1/2 in; 8.5 in; 21.59 cm

Width: 5 3/8 in; 5.38 in; 13.65 cm

[collation uncertain]; pp viii, 160, comprising:

title page, with copyright notice, etc. on verso, pp [i-ii];
dedication, verso blank, pp iii-iv;
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, pp v-vi;
table of CONTENTS, p vii;
p [viii] blank;
“The Parting of the Plays” by the editor, pp 1-35;
p 36 blank;
text of the two versions, pp 37-148;
NOTES, pp 149-154;
INDEX, pp 155-57;
p [158] blank;
“About the Author”, p 159;
p [160] blank;
no endpapers;
issued in brick-red cloth-like wrappers, lettered in white on front cover as on title page, but with rules added after title, subtitle, and editor’s name, and with his university and publisher’s localities omitted; publisher’s advertisements and ISBN number on back cover;
spine lettered down in white:

THE CELEBRATED CASE OF ESTHER WATERS [dot] Davis

[publisher's name and device horizontally at bottom]

Included are two versions of the play:

“by George Moore” (b)
“by Barrett H. Clark (Based on George Moore’s novel Esther Waters)” (c).

In addition, there is the editor’s commentary on the ill-fated collaboration. For Clark’s account see “George Moore at Work” in the American Mercury, February 1925, or its revised and expanded version, “George Moore: At Home in Paris” in Intimate Portraits, New York, 1951. Also see Professor Davis’s “‘The Celebrated Case of Esther Waters’: Unpublished Letters of George Moore to Barrett H. Clark” in Papers on Language and Literature, 13:1, Winter 1977; and “George Moore as Collaborator and Artist The Making of a Later Esther Waters: A Play" in English Literature in Transition, 24:4, 1981.

Source: Curated by George Moore Interactive LLC (georgemooreinteractive.org) — Shared for research, educational, and personal use.