Recommendations for January:

WEALTH (PLUTUS)
Written by Aristophanes towards the end of the V century BCE, one of his eleven surviving comedies.
Plutus, the god of wealth, has lost his sight and roams the streets of Athens as a beggar.
Because he is blind, fortune is distributed randomly, and most times, unfairly.
An Athenian citizen and his servant, living in hardship, recognize him and set themselves to the mission of restoring his sight. From that moment, wealth will go only to people who deserve it, which causes a true revolution in the city.
A timeless work of art, that deserves to be revisited in these uncertain times

Violence and The Sacred
Rene Girard -1972-
One of the most revolutionaries (and controversial) philosophical works of the 20th century.
Could violence be the force that originated our culture? Rene Girard analyses ancient myths to build up his theory. Later he wrote one of the deepest essays on Shakespeare, “A Theatre of Envy”, which we’ll recommend in the future, but let’s start by the beginning.

VIOLENCE AND THE SACRED
Rene Girard
Translated by Patrick Gregory

The Cherry Orchard
Anton Chekhov
Written in 1903, first staged by the Moscow Arts Theatre in 1904.
A play about ends and new beginnings, that deserves a re-reading considering the times we are living.
It has often been perceived as a sentimental drama about the passing from an old and charming gentry world to a brash new era of market economy. But could it be a merciless critique to an idle class that lives from nostalgia and is incapable of adapting to change? That is for you to find out.
In any case, Chekov considered his last play “a comedy”.
Anton Chekhov
Written in 1903, first staged by the Moscow Arts Theatre in 1904.
A play about ends and new beginnings, that deserves a re-reading considering the times we are living.
It has often been perceived as a sentimental drama about the passing from an old and charming gentry world to a brash new era of market economy. But could it be a merciless critique to an idle class that lives from nostalgia and is incapable of adapting to change? That is for you to find out.
In any case, Chekov considered his last play “a comedy”.
We have these second hand editions in stock:

THE CHERRY ORCHARD
Anton Chekov
Translated by Michael Frayn
Methhuen
Anton Chekov
Translated by Michael Frayn
Methhuen

THE CHERRY ORCHARD
Anton Chekov
Translated by Helen Rappaport and adapted by Trevor Griffiths
Faber & Faber
Anton Chekov
Translated by Helen Rappaport and adapted by Trevor Griffiths
Faber & Faber

THE CHERRY ORCHARD
Anton Chekov
Translation by Black’s Readers Service Company in New York -1929-
Dover Thrift Edition
Anton Chekov
Translation by Black’s Readers Service Company in New York -1929-
Dover Thrift Edition
Rare finds of January:



Poems on different occasions
By John Gay
Printed by Jacob Tonsn at Shakespeare's Head in the Strand,
and Bernard Lintot in Fleet Street
exactly 300 years ago.
Send us an email to info@calderbookshop.com for a quote.


The Theatrical Recorder
Written and published by Thomas Holcroft.
Printed by C. Mercier and Co in London in 1805
Beautiful prints! As Thoms Holcroft once said: “Thau hath suffered worse than this” Stay patient, safe and keep your imagination going.
Send us an email to info@calderbookshop.com for a quote.
Written and published by Thomas Holcroft.
Printed by C. Mercier and Co in London in 1805
Beautiful prints! As Thoms Holcroft once said: “Thau hath suffered worse than this” Stay patient, safe and keep your imagination going.
Send us an email to info@calderbookshop.com for a quote.
THE BLUE BIRD
by Maurice Maeterlinck
Beautiful edition from 1912, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Matos,
lavishly illustrated by F. Cayley Robinson.
A play for children first published as L’Oiseau bleu in 1908.
In a fairy-tale-like setting, Tyltyl and Mytyl,
the son and daughter of a poor woodcutter,
are sent out by the Fairy Bérylune to search
the world for the Blue Bird of Happines.
See more details and price here

Coming later in the year:

An evening of discussion and analysis of the political content
of some well-known comics.

t’s The year is 50 bc, Gaul is entirely
occupied by the
Romans. Well, not
entirely… one small
village of
indomitable Gauls still holds out
against the invaders.
Then Julius
Caesar comes up with a
brilliant idea, a new and creative way
of domination:
to
introduce capitalism into the village.
