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FRANKLIN LIBRARY COLLECTED PLAYS ARTHUR MILLER Illustrated by Barron Storey Beautiful Fully Leatherbound Signed Limited Edition One of the "Signed 60" Collection, privately printed by The Franklin Library and individually signed by late author Arthur Miller Arthur Miller, who died in February, 2005, was one of the leading American playwrights of the 20th century and a celebrity of nearly equal notoriety. His work transformed American theatre in the period immediately following the end of World War II. Profoundly influenced by the Depression and the war that followed it, Miller tapped into a sense of profound dissatisfaction and unrest within the greater American psyche. His unremitting dramas proved to be both the conscience and the redemption of the times, allowing people an honest view of the direction their country had taken. Miller was born on October 17, 1915, in New York City, the son of a ladies-wear manufacturer who was ruined during the economic collapse of the 1930s. Witnessing the societal decay of the Depression, and his father's desperation due to business failures, had an enormous effect on Miller. After graduating from high school he worked in a warehouse so that he could earn enough money to attend the University of Michigan, where he began to write plays. Miller's first public success was Focus (1945) a novel about anti-Semitism, but it was with All My Sons two years later that he emerged as an important playwright. All My Sons is a drama about a manufacturer of faulty war materials that strongly shows the influence of Henrik Ibsen. It was with Death of a Salesman in 1949, however, that Miller secured his reputation as one of the nation's foremost playwrights. Is there anyone in America who has not read Death of a Salesman at one time or another? Death of a Salesman mixes the tradition of social realism that informs most of Miller's work with a more experimental structure that includes fluid leaps in time as the protagonist, Willy Loman, drifts into memories of his sons as teenagers. Loman stands as an American archetype, a victim of his own delusions of grandeur and obsession with success that haunts him in his failure. Miller won a Tony Award for Death of a Salesman as well as a Pulitzer Prize. The play has been frequently revived in film, television and stage versions that have included such diverse actors as Dustin Hoffman, George C. Scott and Brian Dennehy. Miller followed Death of a Salesman with his most politically significant work, The Crucible (1953), a tale of the Salem witch trials that contains obvious analogies to the McCarthy anti-Communist hearing of Miller's contemporary society. Three years later, in 1956, Miller found himself part of those hearings when he was subpoenaed to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Word came to Miller from the Committee that if the committee chair could have his photo taken with Marilyn Monroe, (whom Miller married in 1956), Miller would not have to appear at the hearing. Miller refused. In his eventual testimony before the committee, Miller answered questions only about himself, and refused either to answer questions about other people, or to name people he had allegedly seen at a Communist writers' meeting a decade before, and he was convicted of contempt. He appealed this verdict and later had it overturned. Miller also wrote the plays A Memory of Two Mondays and the short A View From the Bridge , which were both staged in 1955. His other works include After the Fall (1964), a thinly veiled account of his marriage to Monroe (to whom this limited Franklin Library edition is dedicated), as well as The Price (1967), The Archbishop's Ceiling (1977) and The American Clock (1980). His most recent works include the plays The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991), The Last Yankee (1993) and Broken Glass (1993), which won the Olivier Award for Best Play. More than any other working American playwright, Arthur Miller dedicated himself to the investigation of the moral plight of the white American working class. With a sense of realism and a strong ear for the American vernacular, Miller created characters whose voices are an indispensable part of the American landscape. His insight into the psychology of desperation and his ability to create stories that express the deepest meanings of struggle, have made him one of the most highly regarded and widely performed American playwrights. This magnificent edition, personally signed by the author, contains five of Miller's best and most representative plays: All My Sons, Death of A Salesman, The Crucible, A Memory of Two Mondays , and A View From the Bridge This beautiful book features: Full Tooled Leather Binding Hubbed Tooled Leather Spine Lovely Satin bookmark, sewn in Elaborate 22-karat gold lettering and ornamentation on the spines, front and back boards Gilding on all page edges, to protect against dust and moisture With a special introduction written by the author for this edition and not found in any other edition Decorative French moire silk endpapers Wonderfully reproduced illustrations and original artwork Acid neutral paper, designed to last generations without discoloring or degrading Acid-free leaves Smyth-sewn for longevity, durability and readability FINE Exterior condition FINE Interior condition 437 Pages Every book you buy from us will be wrapped and packed securely in a sturdy new box for shipment to you. WE NEVER SHIP IN PADDED ENVELOPES , because books are frequently damaged this way, particularly their delicate corners. Please check out our other auctions for fine Franklin Library and Easton Press books. We love our books. We think you will, too. THIS BOOK WAS MADE IN AMERICA