This book has its origins in the admiration I felt over a period of many years for John Haynes' photographs of Samuel Beckett and his plays. The idea evolved further with John's appointment as Annenberg Fellow at my home university, the University of Reading. This post was made possible by a generous award from the Annenberg Foundation, set up in the USA by the late Walter Annenberg. The fellowship was established through the good offices of his grand-daughter, Lauren Ariel Bon. I thank her and the trustees most warmly here for their support.

During his year as a fellow, an exhibition of Haynes' photographs was assembled by John and Stephen Buckley and exhibited as Samuel Beckett on Stage, first in Reading, then in London and Berlin. This revealed what a rich archive he had of Beckett photographs (many previously unseen) and I felt that these ought to be more widely disseminated for others to appreciate and enjoy. We agreed to work together and this book of essays and photographs is the fruit of our collaboration. We have not attempted to make the photographs directly illustrate the texts, but have preferred to set up echoes from one to the other.

Extracts from Beckett's writings, published or unpublished, appear with the kind permission of Edward Beckett and the Beckett Estate and his writings in English are quoted by kind permission of Faber & Faber Ltd, Calder Publications and Grove Press, who hold the copyrights to his published work.