In the reviews following the February 10, 1949 opening of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Jo Mielziner's set design received a mixed response. While some critics called it" beautifully flexible and elegant," others--even those who liked the play--dismissed it as" too complex in shape and too diverse in style."[1] Nonetheless, the set has gone down in theater history as a bold and influential act of design, and has formed the backdrop against which generations of readers have imagined the play. Miller himself described the design in the opening stage directions of the final published text:

Before us is the Salesman's house... As more light appears, we see a solid vault of apartment houses around the small, fragile-seeming home. An air of the dream clings to the place, a dream rising out of reality... The entire setting is wholly or, in some places, partially transparent. The roof-line of the house is one-dimensional; under …