# Is "Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant" by George Bernard Shaw a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant by George Bernard Shaw (Grant Richards, 1898) is identified by: Two volumes, octavo, original green cloth, top edges gilt, each volume with a photogravure portrait frontispiece of Shaw. Herbert S.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Two volumes, octavo, original green cloth, top edges gilt, each volume with a photogravure portrait frontispiece of Shaw
- Volume I ("Plays Unpleasant") contains Widowers' Houses, The Philanderer, and Mrs Warren's Profession
- Volume II ("Plays Pleasant") contains Candida, Arms and the Man, The Man of Destiny, and You Never Can Tell
- This collection gave several of these plays their first appearance in print, including the then-unlicensed Mrs Warren's Profession, which the Lord Chamberlain's office had refused to approve for public stage performance
- Publisher imprint reads Grant Richards
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | George Bernard Shaw |
| Publisher | Grant Richards |
| Year | 1898 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Two volumes, octavo, original green cloth, top edges gilt, each volume with a photogravure portrait frontispiece of Shaw |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Two volumes, octavo, original green cloth, top edges gilt, each volume with a photogravure portrait frontispiece of Shaw. Volume I ("Plays Unpleasant") contains Widowers' Houses, The Philanderer, and Mrs Warren's Profession; Volume II ("Plays Pleasant") contains Candida, Arms and the Man, The Man of Destiny, and You Never Can Tell. This collection gave several of these plays their first appearance in print, including the then-unlicensed Mrs Warren's Profession, which the Lord Chamberlain's office had refused to approve for public stage performance.

## Is this the true first?
Herbert S. Stone & Co. of Chicago issued a simultaneous American edition in April 1898 with the same copyright date on both volumes' title pages; the Grant Richards London printing is treated as the primary first edition, with the Stone Chicago printing as the first American edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant* by George Bernard Shaw a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/plays-pleasant-and-unpleasant
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.