Waiting for “Waiting for Godot” – Samuel Beckett and Barney Rosset

When Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), Irish writer who was awarded with Nobel Prize for Literature, wrote his play "Waiting for Godot" in 1952, Barney Rosset, founder of the publishing house "Grove Press”, reluctantly approved the printing of thousand copies of that books.

He thought that publishing of Beckett’s play would be a total failure.

In the beginning, it was indeed like that. In the first year, less than 400 copies were sold. They were mainly bought by Beckett himself, who then gave those copies of “Waiting for Godot” to his friends, as a gift.

But then the play premiered on the Broadway. It was on the program for just six weeks. The critics have written that it is a pure Communist propaganda... However, after that, readers have begun to buy the book.

In just a short period, the suspicious Barney Rosset realized that he sold over two million copies of "Waiting for Godot".