The books contain selected plays of George Bernard Shaw, a witty, curmudgeonly author who entertained audiences of the 19th and 20th centuries by denouncing and shocking their traditional ideas. His most popular play was Pygmalion, remade with some changes into My Fair Lady. The Prefaces to his plays are sometimes almost as long as the plays themselves, and are very funny. Volume 1 contains The Doctor's Dilemma, Pygmalion, Major Barbara, Heartbreak House, Capt. Brassbound's Conversion, The Man of Destiny, and Androcles and the Lion. There are some tears on the dustjacket of the book.