Sir Alec Guinness | His marked-up copy of Hamlet

William Shakespeare

Tragedy of Hamlet. London: J.M. Dent, 1915

16mo (128 x 98mm), frontispiece, SEVERAL PASSAGES CROSSED OUT IN RED AND BLACK INK OR IN PENCIL IN GUINNESS'S HAND, publisher's roan, housed in a modern cloth case, front cover detached, backstrip split and a few gatherings loose

A REMARKABLE COPY OF SHAKESPEARE'S MAGNUM OPUS, OWNED BY THE LEGENDARY ENGLISH ACTOR SIR ALEC GUINNESS.

Guinness starred in several productions of Hamlet throughout the course of his professional career. John Gielgud cast the then 22-year-old as Osric in a 1934 New Theatre production: Guinness's "first real part" in a West End play (ODNB). Guinness first played the Dane himself in a famous—but controversial—modern-dress staging at the Old Vic Theatre in London, directed by Tyrone Guthrie. He returned to the titular role in a self-directed 1951 New Theatre production.

It seems most plausible that the present copy was annotated by Guinness in preparation for the 1951 production. Several lines initially crossed out in pencil or black ink have subsequently been re-annotated in red ink accompanied by the word "stet" in the margin (denoting that these passages were initially cut from the script but subsequently re-added). Reflecting upon the production at the culmination of its six week run, Guinness agonised over his directorial decision not to excise more of the text:

"Very little of the play was cut. Maybe this was a mis-judgement for it has only recently occurred to me that perhaps Elizabethan audiences were able to stomach long entertainments for the simple reason that they were in the open air" (Guinness, "My Idea of Hamlet", The Spectator, 6 July 1951).

PROVENANCE:

Alec Guinness (1914–2000), pencil ownership inscription to front free endpaper; "Kenneth Wilkinson | from D.W.", crossed-out ink ownership inscription to front free endpaper; Donald and Mary Hyde, bookplate; sale, Christie's New York, 14 April 2004, lot 85