Book excerpt: The interwar English playwright Noël Coward is best known for his highly polished comedies of manners, including the enduring masterpieces ‘The Vortex’, ‘Hay Fever’, ‘Present Laughter’ and ‘Blithe Spirit’. His plays caught the clipped speech and brittle disillusion of the generation that emerged from the Great War, while his popular songs and revues struck the world-weary note of his times. An indefatigable genius, he performed almost every function in the theatre, including producing, directing, dancing, singing and acting, as well as directing motion pictures. This eBook presents Coward’s collected works, with numerous illustrations, rare texts, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) Please note: some later plays, fiction and autobiographies cannot appear due to US copyright restrictions. When new works enter the public domain they will be added to the eBook as a free update. * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Coward’s life and works * Detailed introductions to the major texts * All 43 plays in the US public domain, with individual contents tables * Features rare dramas appearing for the first time in digital publishing * Images of how the books were first published, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts * Excellent formatting of the texts * Rare revues available in no other collection * Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the short stories * Includes Coward’s satires and poetry * Ordering of texts into chronological order and genres CONTENTS: The Plays What Next? (1915) Woman and Whisky (1918) The Rat Trap (1918) I’ll Leave It to You (1919) The Young Idea (1921) Sirocco (1921) The Queen was in the Parlour (1922) Mild Oats (1922) Weatherwise (1923) Fallen Angels (1923) The Vortex (1923) Customs House, Dover (1923) Hay Fever (1924) Easy Virtue (1924) Semi-Monde (1926) This Was a Man (1926) The Marquise (1926) Home Chat (1927) Bitter Sweet (1928) Shop-Girls (1928) Private Lives (1929) Some Other Private Lives (1930) Conversation Piece (1933) Point Valaine (1934) Operette (1937) Present Laughter (1939) This Happy Breed (1939) Salute to the Brave/Time Remembered (1940) Blithe Spirit (1941) Pacific 1860 (1946) Peace in Our Time (1946) Long Island Sound (1947) South Sea Bubble (1949) Relative Values (1951) Quadrille (1951) After the Ball (1953) Nude with Violin (1954) Volcano (1957) Look After Lulu! (1958) Waiting in the Wings (1959) Sail Away (1959) The Girl Who Came to Supper (1963) Suite in Three Keys (1965) The Revues London Calling! (1923) On with the Dance (1924) This Year of Grace (1927) The Satires Terribly Intimate Portraits (1922) A Withered Nosegay (1922) Chelsea Buns (1925) The Poetry The Poetry of Noël Coward