George Bernard Shaw Financial Papers

Financial papers relating to productions of plays by George Bernard Shaw: receipts, notes and some correspondence concerning box office takings for Shaw productions and tours collected and collated by Shaw to assess royalties due.

Born in Dublin, at the age of twenty George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) moved to London and began to write music and drama criticism, as well as novels. He was an active socialist and public orator, joining the Fabian Society in 1884 (where he met his wife Charlotte Payne-Townsend), and serving on its executive committe from 1885-1911. He wrote his first play, Widower's House, in 1891, going on to write many plays including Candida, Mrs Warren's Profession, Pygmalion, Saint Joan, and Back to Methuselah. Declining to go into politics, he helped found the London School of Economics and was closely associated with the intellectual revival of British theatre, winning the Nobel Prize in Literature and an Oscar in his lifetime.

This archive collection is available for consultation in the V&A Blythe House Archive and Library Study Room by appointment only. Full details of access arrangements may be found here: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/archives/.

Access to some of the material may be restricted. These are noted in the catalogue where relevant.

Information on copying and commercial reproduction may be found here: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/archives/.

This collection was appraised in line with the collection management policy.

No further accruals are expected.

See also the core collections of the V&A Department of Theatre and Performance. Material relating to Bernard Shaw, as well as his plays in general may be found in several collections, including a biographical file, programmes for London and regional performances of his plays, and photograph files. Please enquire for details.