Alec Guinness: An early script for his play Great Expectations

circa 1939,

circa 1939,
approx. 34 pages, of mimeographed typescript, brown cover, the title page inscribed Great Expectations, A Play By Alec Guinness, Constructed on the novel by CHARLES DICKINS, also bearing his address at Waddington, Lodsworth, Sussex, and stamped by Mrs. Marshall's Typewriting Office on The Strand

In 1939 Guinness adapted Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations for the stage, playing 'Herbert Pocket'. The play was a success. One of its viewers was a young British film editor, David Lean, who would later have Guinness reprise his role in Lean's 1946 film adaptation of the play. Guinness won particular acclaim for his work with director David Lean, which today is his most critically acclaimed work. The 1946 film is now regarded as one of Lean's best; and in 1999, Great Expectations was named the 5th greatest British film of all time.

Provenance:
Acquired by the vendor's relative Richard McNaughton, who was a documentary film maker.