• Introduction
  • Novel to Sketches
  • Plays
  • Miscellaneous
  • Books about Noël Coward
 

 

A Bibliography for Noël Coward

 

This is a developing bibliography of the published works of Noel Coward together with some of the notable books about Noel and his work. Where possible US publishers have been included with details of any differences in title or version.

 

Presentation copies have not been included. 100 of these were usually published covered in red Moroccan leather and in slip cases, signed and dedicated by Noël Coward.

 

Compiled by John Knowles, Ken Starrett with additions by Lance Salway.

 

Novel
POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE UK: Heinemann,1960 US: Doubleday, 1960 Dell Publishing Co., 1960 (Paperback) and E.P. Dutton, Inc., 1982 (Paperback).

Short Stories
TO STEP ASIDE Heinemann, 1939.
STAR QUALITY Heinemann, 1951.
PRETTY POLLY BARLOW Heinemann, 1964.
BON VOYAGE Heinemann,1967.
THE COLLECTED STORIES Heinemann, 1962.
THE COLLECTED SHORT STORIES Dutton, 1983.
THE COMPLETE STORIES Methuen, 1985 (Paperback).

Autobiography
PRESENT INDICATIVE Heinemann, 1937 In the US: Doubleday & Company, 1937.
FUTURE INDEFINITE Heinemann, 1954 In the US: Doubleday & Company, 1954.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY (contains ‘Present Indicative’, ‘Future Indefinite’ and 45 pages of ‘Past Conditional’) Methuen, 1986.

Satire
A WITHERED NOSEGAY (boards) Christopher’s, 1922.
CHELSEA BUNS (boards) Hutchinson, 1925.
SPANGLED UNICORN Hutchinson, 1932.In the US: Doubleday, Doran and Co., 1933.
A WITHERED NOSEGAY, CHELSEA BUNS, SPANGLED UNICORN Methuen, 1984. In the US: Caroll & Graf Publishing, Inc., 1987 (Paperback).
POEMS BY HERNIA WHITTLEBOT with an Appreciation by Noel Coward. Private Publication printed by John Waddington Ltd.

Travel
AUSTRALIA VISITED Heinemann, 1941.
MIDDLE EAST DIARY Heinemann 1944. In the US: Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1944.

Verse, Lyrics & Sketches
COLLECTED SKETCHES AND LYRICS Hutchinson, 1931.
THE NOEL COWARD SONGBOOK Michael Joseph, 1953.
THE LYRICS OF NOEL COWARD Heinemann, 1965. In the US: Tusk/Overlook, 1983 (Paperback) and Methuen, 1985 (Paperback)
NOT YET THE DODO Heinemann, 1967.
COLLECTED VERSE Methuen, 1984.
Day, Barry (Editor): NOEL COWARD, THE COMPLETE LYRICS Methuen, 1998. In the US: Overlook Press, 1998.

Plays
I’LL LEAVE IT TO YOU (wrappers) Samuel French, 1920.
THE RAT TRAP (cloth; no dust jacket) Ernest Benn: ‘Contemporary British Dramatists’ series, 1924.
THE YOUNG IDEA (wrappers) Samuel French, 1924. In the US: (wrappers) Samuel French, U.S., 1924.
FALLEN ANGELS (cloth; no dust jacket) (also in Paperback) Ernest Benn: ‘Contemporary British Dramatists’ series, 1924.
THE VORTEX (cloth; no dust jacket) Ernest Benn: ‘Contemporary British Dramatists’ series, 1925.
HAY FEVER (cloth; no dust jacket) Ernest Benn: ‘Contemporary British Dramatists’ series, 1925. In the US: Harper, 1925.
THE QUEEN WAS IN THE PARLOUR (cloth; no dust jacket) Ernest Benn: 'Contemporary British Dramatists' series, 1926.
EASY VIRTUE (cloth; no dust jacket) Ernest Benn: ‘Contemporary British Dramatists’ series, 1926.
THIS WAS A MAN Secker, 1926. In the US: Harper, U.S., 1926.
SIROCCO Secker, 1927.
THE MARQUISE (cloth; no dust jacket) Ernest Benn: ‘Contemporary British Dramatists’ series, 1927.
HOME CHAT Secker, 1927.
BITTER SWEET Secker, 1929.
PRIVATE LIVES Heinemann, 1930. In the US: Doubleday & Company, 1930.
POST-MORTEM Heinemann, 1931. In the US: Doubleday & Company, 1931.
CAVALCADE Heinemann, 1932.
DESIGN FOR LIVING Heinemann, 1933. In the US: Doubleday, U.S.,1933.
CONVERSATION PIECE Heinemann, 1934.
POINT VALAINE Heinemann, 1935. In the US: Doubleday,1935
TONIGHT AT 8.30 (three volumes) Heinemann, 1936.
OPERETTE Heinemann, 1938.
PRESENT LAUGHTER Heinemann, 1943. In the US: Doubleday & Company, 1946.
THIS HAPPY BREED Heinemann, 1943. In the US: Samuel French, 1945 and Doubleday & Company, 1947.
BLITHE SPIRIT Heinemann,1942. In the US: Doubleday & Company, 1941 and Samuel French , 1941.
PEACE IN OUR TIME Heinemann, 1947. In the US: Doubleday & Company, 1948.
RELATIVE VALUES Heinemann, 1952.
QUADRILLE Heinemann, 1952. In the US: Doubleday & Company, 1952.
SOUTH SEA BUBBLE Heinemann, 1956.
NUDE WITH VIOLIN Heinemann,1956. In the US: Doubleday & Company, 1958.
LOOK AFTER LULU Heinemann, 1959.
WAITING IN THE WINGS Heinemann, 1960. In the US: Doubleday & Company, 1960 and Samuel French, 1960.
SUITE IN THREE KEYS Heinemann, 1966. In the US: Doubleday & Company,1967.
SEMI-MONDE Methuen, 2001.
STAR QUALITY Methuen, 2001. Adapted by Christopher Luscombe.

Play Anthologies
THREE PLAYS (contains ‘The Rat Trap’, ‘The Vortex’ and ‘Fallen Angels’, with the 'Author’s Reply to his Critics’). Ernest Benn, 1925.
THREE PLAYS, with a Preface (contains ‘Home Chat’, ‘Sirocco’ and ‘This Was a Man’) Secker, 1928. In the US: Preface by Arnold Bennett, Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1928.
THREE PLAYS with a Preface (contains ‘Private Lives’, ‘Hay Fever’, and ‘Blithe Spirit’) In the US: Preface by Edward Albee, Dell Publishing, 1965 (Paperback)
TONIGHT AT 8:30 - 8 GREAT PLAYS, In the US, New Avon Library, 1943 (Paperback)
BITTER-SWEET and Other Plays (also contains ‘Easy Virtue’ and ‘Hay Fever’, with a few comments on the younger dramatist by W. Somerset Maugham) In the US: Doubleday, 1929.
PLAY PARADE Heinemann, 1934. In the US: Garden City Publishing, 1934.
SECOND PLAY PARADE (Heinemann, 1939)
CURTAIN CALLS (contains ‘Tonight at 8.30’, ‘Conversation Piece’, ‘Easy Virtue’, ‘Point Valaine’ and ‘This Was a Man’). Doubleday, U.S., 1940 and Garden City Publishing, 1941.
PLAY PARADE VOL. III Heinemann, 1950.
PLAY PARADE VOL: IV Heinemenn,1954.
PLAY PARADE VOL. V Heinemann,1958).
PLAY PARADE VOL, VI Heinemann, 1962.

Methuen produced a series of (both hard and soft-cover) anthologies of plays in 1979:
PLAYS ONE: Hay Fever The Vortex Fallen Angels Easy Virtue
PLAYS TWO: Private Lives, Bitter-Sweet, The Marquise, Post-Mortem
PLAYS THREE: Design for Living, Cavalcade, Conversation Piece, and Hands Across the Sea, Still Life, Fumed Oak from To-night at 8.30
PLAYS FOUR: Blithe Spirit, This Happy Breed, Present Laughter, and Ways and Means, The Astonished Heart, Red Peppers from To-night at 8.30
PLAYS FIVE: Relative Values, Waiting in the Wings, Look After Lulu, Suite in Three Keys
This was reprinted in 1982 & 1985 and again, with a new introduction in 1989.
This was reprinted in 1991 and again with a new cover design in 1993.
The new cover edition was reprinted in 1994, 1995 & 1996.

A further series of play anthologies was printed in 1999 as part of THE COWARD COLLECTION produced by Methuen to mark the Centenary of Noel Coward’s birth:
COLLECTED PLAYS ONE: Hay Fever, The Vortex, Fallen Angels, Easy Virtue
COLLECTED PLAYS TWO: Private Lives, Bitter-Sweet, The Marquise, Post-Mortem
COLLECTED PLAYS THREE: Design for Living Cavalcade Conversation Piece and Hands Across the Sea Still Life Fumed Oak from To-night at 8.30
COLLECTED PLAYS FOUR: Blithe Spirit, Present Laughter, This Happy Breed, and Ways and Means, The Astonished Heart, “Red Pepper;” from Tonight at 8.30
COLLECTED PLAYS FIVE: Relative Values, Look After Lulu! Waiting in the Wings, Suite in Three Keys
COLLECTED PLAYS SIX: Semi-Monde, Point Valaine, South Sea Bubble, Nude With Violin
COLLECTED PLAYS SEVEN: Quadrille, Peace in Our Time, and We Were Dancing, Shadow Play, Family Album, Star Chamber from Tonight at 8.30
COLLECTED PLAYS EIGHT: I’ll Leave It to You, The Young Idea, and This Was a Man

Miscellaneous
THE NOEL COWARD DIARIES Weidenfield & Nicolson,1982. In the US: Little Brown & Company, 1982 and Da Capo Press, 2000  (Paperback)
REMEMBERING NOEL COWARD Friends of the USC Libraries, University of Southern California, 1981.
OH COWARD! In the US: Doubleday & Company 1974
NOEL AND GERTIE, an entertainment devised by Sheridan Morley. Oberon Books, 1997 (Paperback).
SHORT STORIES, SHORT PLAYS AND SONGS BY NOEL COWARD, In the US: Dell Publishing 1955 (Paperback)

Music
Hundreds of copies of sheet music and scores have been published.

Notable anthologies are:
THE NOEL COWARD SONG BOOK Michael Joseph, 1953. In the US: Simon & Schuster, 1953 and Methuen, 1984 (Paperback)
Snider, Lee (Editor) SIR NOEL COWARD: HIS WORDS AND MUSIC Chappell & Co., Inc., appr. 1963. In the US: Random House, 1973
NOEL COWARD GALA: HIS WORDS AND MUSIC - Volume 2 - Snider, Lee (Editor)
NOEL COWARD REDISCOVERED Warner Brothers Publications, 2001.

Musicals
BITTER SWEET Martin Secker, 1929
OPERETTE Heinemann, 1938

Quotations
Hoare, Philip: THE SAYINGS OF NOEL COWARD Duckworth, 1997
Morley, Sheridan: THE QUOTABLE NOEL COWARD Running Press, 1999
Day, Barry: NOEL COWARD, A LIFE IN QUOTES Metro,1999
Engright, Dominique WICKED WIT OF NOEL COWARD (to be published)

Books About Noël Coward
Braybrooke, Patrick: THE AMAZING MR COWARD Dennis Archer, 1933
Oraecen, Robert: THE ART OF NOEL COWARD Hand & Flower Press, 1953.
Mander, Raymond and Mitchenson, Joe: THEATRICAL COMPANION TO NOEL COWARD Rockliff,1957. In the US: Macmillan, 1957.
Richards, Dick (editor): THE WIT OF NOEL COWARD Leslie Frewin,1968 and Sphere,1970 (Paperback)
Levin, Milton: NOEL COWARD (Twayne, U.S., 1968. Revised 1989.
Morley, Sheridan: A TALENT TO AMUSE Heinemann, 1969. In the US: Doubleday & Company and Little Brown & Company, 1989 and Pavilion, 1986 (Paperback)
Hadfield, John (editor): COWARDY CUSTARD: THE WORLD OF NOEL COWARD
Heinemann, 1973. In the US as: A LAST ENCORE: WORDS BY NOEL COWARD
PICTURES FROM HIS LIFE AND TIMES Little, Brown and Company, 1973.
Castle, Charles: NOEL 1972) Abacus, 1974 (Paperback)
Ralph Morse, Clarence: MAD DOGS & ENGLISHMEN: A STUDY OF NOEL COWARD Emporia, 1975.
Merchant, William: THE PRIVILEGE OF HIS COMPANY Weidenfeld & Nicolson,
1975.In the US: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1975.
Lesley, Cole: THE LIFE OF NOEL COWARD Cape,1976. Penguin, 1976 (Paperback).
In the US as: REMEMBERED LAUGHTER, THE LIFE OF NOEL COWARD Knopf, 1976.
Yarevintelimath, C.R.: JESTING JEREMIAH: A STUDY OF NOEL COWARD’S
COMIC VISION Karatak University, Dharwad, 1978.
Cole, Lesley: NOEL COWARD AND HIS FRIENDS Weldenfeld & Nicolson,1979.
In the US: Morrow & Co., 1979.
Lahr, John: COWARD THE PLAYWRIGHT Methuen, 1982. Reprinted 1999.
Kiernan, Robert F.: NOEL COWARD Ungar, 1986.
Gray, Frances: NOEL COWARD Macmillan, 1987. In the US: St. Martin’s Press, 1987.
Russell, Jacqui (Compiler): FILE ON COWARD Methuen, 1987.
Morley, Sheridan: OUT IN THE MIDDAY SUN: THE PAINTINGS OF NOEL
COWARD Phaldon, 1988.
Remembered Laughter/The Life of Noel Coward(US)
A Talent To Amuse (US)
Briers, Richard: NOEL COWARD & COMPANY Robson Books, 1987 and
Future, 1989 (paperback).
Citron, Stephen: NOEL & COLE: THE SOPHISTICATES Sinclair-Stevenson,1992.
In the US: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Fisher, Clive: NOEL COWARD Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1992. In the US: St Martin’s Press, 1992.
Cole, Stephen: NOELCOWARD A BIO-BIBLIOGRAPHY Greenwood Press 1993.
Payn, Graham; with Day, Barry: MY LIFE WITH NOEL COWARD Applause, 1994.
Morella, Joseph; and Mazzei, George: GENIUS & LUST THE CREATIVE AND SEXUAL LIVES OF COLE
PORTER AND NOEL COWARD Robson Books 1995.In the US: Caroll & Graf Publishing, Inc., 1995.
Castle, Terry: NOELCOWARD & RADCLYFFE HALL, KINDRED SPIRITS Columbia University Press, 1996.
Salewicz, Chris; Boot, Adrian FIREFLY, NOEL COWARD IN JAMAICA (Victor Gollancz 1999)
Mander, Raymond and Mitchenson, Joe: THEATRICAL COMPANION TO NOEL COWARD (Second Edition)
Updated by Morley, Sheridan, and Day, Barry. Oberon Books, 2000.
Kaplan, Joel, and Stowell, Sheila: LOOK BACK IN PLEASURE, NOEL COWARD RECONSIDERED Methuen, 2000.
Day, Barry (Editor and Annotations): THE UNKNOWN NOEL. NEW WRITING FROM THE NOEL
COWARD ARCHIVE Second Opinion, inc., 2001.
Hoare, Philip, NOEL COWARD, Sinclair-Stevenson, 1995.In the US, Simon & Schuster, 1995.
Morley, Sheridan, THE PRIVATE LIVES OF NOEL AND GERTIE, Oberon Books, 1999 (two biographies, A
Talent to Amuse and A Bright Particular Star combined in one volume) (Paperback).
Sharland, Elizabeth, THE BRITISH ON BROADWAY, Barbican Press, 1999.
Sharland, Elizabeth, FROM SHAKESPEARE TO COWARD, Barbican Press, 1999.
Sharland, Elizabeth, A THEATRICAL FEAST, Barbican Press, 1999.
Sharland, Elizabeth, LOVE FROM SHAKESPEARE TO COWARD, Applause Books, 1999.
Day, Barry: COWARD ON FILM Scarecrow Press, 2005
"The only way to enjoy life is to work. Work is much more fun than fun."
© The Noël Coward estate (NC Aventales AG)