Search Results: Drama from John Price Antiquarian Books

London: Printed [by J. Bbarker] for West and Hughs..., 1800. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 2 volumes. 12mo, 175 x 100 mms., pp. [iv], 288; 261 [262 blank, 263 Author's Names, 264 blank], engraved frontispiece of five dramatists (Cumberland, O'Keefe, Inchbald, Dibdin, Sheridan), contemporary half calf, spines blocked in blind, red leather labels (one chipped); some wear to joints but a good set, with the early ownership of Isabella Jones to titles and neat authorships supplied in ink to some passage, Walley Chamberlain Oulton (1761/2–1840), playwright and theatre historian, was born in Dublin and enjoyed some success in Dublin as a playwright in the early part of career. He saw the high road that leads to London in the mid-1780s where his career as a dramatist never quite met his expectations.

London: Printed for Longman...[et al], 1812. . 3 volumes in 4 (volume 1 in 2 parts). 8vo, pp. lxxxv [lxxxvi Abbreviations], 384, [ii], [385] - 789 [790 blank]; [iv], 404; [iv], 478, including half-title in each volume, contemporary tree calf, rebacked in rather unsympathetic calf and without titles or volume numbers- but sound.

London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme..., 1805. 8vo, pp. 75 [76 blank, 77 - 78 Epilogue, 79 - 80 adverts], disbound; title-page soiled.

Bombay: Printed at the Education Society's Steam Press, Byculla, 1890. 8vo, 203 x 127 mms., pp.l [ii], 43 [44 blank], eleven lithographic plates (six folding), sometime recased in plain cloth boards, new end-papers. Edmund Arthur Ponsonby Hobday (1859 - 1931), Royal Artillery, was the Quarter-Master of the Malakand Field Force. A skilled draughtsman/artist, he wrote and profusely illustrated his Sketches on service during the Indian frontier campaigns of 1897. He later went on to illustrate a number of other published memoirs by fellow officers, including Service and Sport on the Tropical Nile by C.A. Sykes, [London: John Murray, 1903]. So he is undoubtedly the creator of the illustrations for the text of this very curious volume. First published in in 1888, in Simla, in 44 pages, with copies found in BL, Liverpool, and Chicago. The only copy of this 1890 imprint is in the BL. The work has been widely reprinted.

Oxonii: E Typogapheo Clarendoniano 1781. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. 8vo, 212 x 120 mms., pp. [viii], 218 [ 219 Errata, 220 blank], fine contemporary calf, spine ornately gilt to a cornucopia motif, Greek key border on covers, marbled end-papers; slight wear to joints and top and base of spine, but a very good copy. The poet and garden designer William Mason(1725 - 1797) published his historical tragedy Caractacus in 1759. This translation into Greek by George Henry Glasse was well received when it was published, with The Monthly Review singing its praises: "There are few works, which the Authors of the Monthly Review have perused with more pleasure and surprise than Mr. Glasse's translation of Mason's Caractacus. They consider it a performance that reflects honour on the Author, and the seminary in which he was educated. Since the revival of letters, there has never, perhaps, appeared in this kingdom, so wondrful a composition in the Greek language.... [W]e cannot help observing that… Read More

Paris: Didot..., 1813. 4 volumes. Small 8vo, 138 x 88 mms., pp. 256; 317 [318 Table]; 314 [315 Table, 316 blank]; 242 [243 Table, 244 blank], contemporary quarter red sheepskin, marbled boards, gilt spines (rubbed); front joint volume 1 slightly worn; armorial bookplate on each front paste-down end-paper.

London Printed for the Company, no date [c. 1728]. 12mo, 152 x 95 mms., pp. [4] 5 - 96], recently recased in quarter brown morocco, cream boards, gilt spine; title-page a little soiled, but a good copy. The playwright and politician Sir Robert Howard (1626–1698) seems to have negotiated the period before the Restoration with enough skill to acquire a small fortune, but his private life was enough to earn him the soubriquet "Sir Positive At-All," an arrogant and foolish knight in Thomas Shadwell's play, Sullen Loveers. The Committee was first performed in 1662 and proved to be the most popular of all his plays. The imprint is false, and ESTC suggests that the volume was probably printed in The Hague for T. Johnson. who might have moved to Rotterdam by 1728. Copies in BL; Folger, Harvard, McMaster, Memphis; and four European libraries.

Grasmere [no publisher] 1927. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 215 x 141 mms., pp. [ii], 60, original printed wrappers (slightly soiled). Eleanor Foster Simpson (1873 - 1959) was born in West Brompton in 1874 and married Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley in 1918. The following information about her and her husband is from the National Trust and the web page queenslandfamilytrees.com: "Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley was a fierce defender of the Lake District countryside, always ready to battle or bully a committee, and challenging and defying the builders of bungalows and railways. He crusaded hotly for the formation of a National Trust - an ambition he achieved in 1895, together with Miss Octavia Hill, a social reformer, and Sir Robert Hunter, a lawyer. When he died, Rawnsley bequeathed the house to the National Trust. However, his wife Eleanor continued to live at Allan Bank after his death. Eleanor Rawnsley was a prominent figure in the Grasmere Village community. Having lived in Grasmere for the best part of 70… Read More

Amsterdam un Leipzig, im Verlage von Rohloff und Compagnie, 1806. FIRST GERMAN TRANSLATION. 3 volumes. 8vo, 180 x 111 mms., pp. cxvi, 418; [7] 8- 400; [v] vi - xvi, [5] - 656, contemporary dark green half calf, spines, red morocco labels, marbled boards; top of spine chipped volume 2, corners worn, some sligthly wear to binding, but a very good and attractive set. The plays of Joanna Baillie (1762–1851) did not have the success in her lifetime that they perhaps deserved, and their reputation was not much helped by a leading article published in 1803 inThe Edinburgh Review, written by Francis Jeffrey, who dealt rather severely with the group called Plays of the Passions, the ones translated here. They were published in 1708 and 1802, with a third volume in 1812. In this translation the plays are characters, perhaps rather Teutonically, by sub-genre: Love, Hate, and Ambition. The translator, Carl Friedrich Cramer (1752 - 1802) also successfully translated the works of Rousseau and… Read More

London: Printed by C. Whittingham, for Scatcherd and Letterman, Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme; R. Scholey; P. and W. Wynne; J. Booker; J.J. Stockdale; J. Booth; J. Carpenter; R. Ryan; G. Richards; C. Chapple; and H. Ebers., 1808. FIRST COLLECTED EDITION. 2 volumes. 8vo, 207 x 129 mms., pp. [5] 6 - 235 [236 blank]; xii 13] - 248, one engraved plate in volume 1 at page 22, engraved frontispiece and 2 other engraved plates in volume 2, by W. J. White after R. Corbould, complete with four plates as found in other copies, contemporary half calf, gilt spines, olive morocco labels; spines a little dried, some slight browning of title-pages and plates, but a good set with the armorial bookplate of G. P. Rickman on the front paste-down end-paper (pasted over another bookplate) of each volume. Burgoyne (1723–1792) is remembered in American history as the officer who surrendered to the colonists after a desperate and furious battle at Bemis Heights in1777. He had more success as a dramatisst, as Max… Read More

London: Printed for J. Clarke...[et al], 1760. 4 volumes. 12mo, pp. [iii] - xii, [3] - 394 [395 - 396 Epilogue]; 372; [3] - 369 [370 - 371 Epilogue, 372 blank]; 381 [382 - 383 Epilogue, 384 blank], engraved portrait of Cibber as frontispiece in volume 1, early 20th century quarter roan, gilt spines, plain boards; front volume 2 crudely repaired, ex-library, with library stamps in blind on various leaves, shelf marks on verso of title-pages, library pockets and date due labels at end of each volume. A very short biography of Cibber (1671 - 1757) appears in volume, and sixteen of his plays are reprinted. The first collected edition 1721 contained ten of his plays. A further edition of his plays appeared in 1777, in five volumes.

Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1786 - 1793. 6 volumes. Large 8vo, pp. [viii], 628; [iv], 676; [iv], 690 [691 notice to subscribers and Erratum, 692 blank]; [iv], 699 [700 Errata]; [iv], 607 [608 blank]; [iv], 549 [550 blank], contemporary mottled calf, red and black morocco labels; bindings dried and soiled, front cover volume 1 detached, front joint volume 2 holding (just) by two cords, tops and bases of spines chipped. Rann's edition was published by subscription, but there is not list of subscribers printed in any of the volumes. He may also have had some difficulty with the Clarendon Press, whose imprint appears on the title-page of the first four volumes, but not in the last two which are undated but were published in 1793. Although he annotates the texts frequently and often admirably, he never mentions which edition of any play he has chosen for his copy-text. He has accepted some of Theobald's readings, including, for example, the famous textual crux in Henry V, "a… Read More

London: Printed for A. Millar..., 1763. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. [viii], 69 [70 postscript, 71 - 72 Epilogue], disbound; title-page and last page of text soiled, lower corner of last leaf torn.

Edinburgh: Printed for Peter Hill, and G. G. J. and J. Robinson..., London, 1793. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. xiv, [15 - 16 [17 errata, 18 blank], 424, 41 [42 blank], including half-title, contemporary calf, red morocco label; joints neatly restored. A very good copy. Jackson's involvement with the Edinburgh theatre began with his acting debut in 1761 and terminated, after his second term as manager, about 1809. A vain and sometimes unscrupulous man, Jackson (1729/30 - 1806) made a better manager than an actor; though one might regard his financially frustrated bid (following the success of his opening season in Edinburgh) to work together the theatres of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, and Aberdeen, as a measure of his vanity rather than his entrepreneurial capabilities. However, his tenure as manager was nothing if not eventful and witnessed "one of the most extraordinary cases of persecution that ever disgraced a theatrical audience" (Dibdin), namely, the unprovoked and otiose… Read More

Londra Pressa Ch. Chrichley, 1742. FIRST EDITION. 12mo (in 6s), 185 x 110 mms., pp. [iv], 100, with the contemporary notation under Steele 's name "da P. Rolli," i. e. the librettist and renowned Italian poet Paolo Rolli (1687-1765). Lacks engraveed frontispiece, edges of leaves a bit ragged and other very slight wear. BOUND WITH: ANTONI (Sebastiano): La Congiura di Bruto, Figiuolo di Cesare. Tragedia del Signor Deglie Antoni. In Vicenza, Con Licenza de Skuperiori, 1733. 8vo, 185 x 110 mms. pp. viii, 80 2 volumes in 1, bound in contemporary quarter vellum, with leather corners, marbled boards (very worn); spine chipped and slightly defective but a good copy. The inscription under Steele's name almost certainly refers to Paolo Rolli (1687-1765) and identifies the translator of Steele's play The Funeral; or Grief A La Mode 1701) for the first time. Rolli translated other work by Steele, e. g. The Conscious Lovers and The Lying Lover, and is known to have worked with… Read More

London, Princed by R. Raworth, M DC XLVII. 1647. Small folio, 202 x 158 mms., pp. [xii], 223 [224 blank], including engraved portrait by Thomas Cross of Guarini as frontispiece, engraved plate opposite first page of text, contemporary calf, expertly rebacked with old spine and black leather label laid down, with ducal crest imprinted in blind on front cover. A very good copy. Il Pastor Fido was first performed in honour of the nuptials of the Duke of Savoy and Catharine of Austria in 1585 and published in 1590 in Venice; it was frequently reprinted thereafter. Guarini (1538-1612) "is remembered for the immensely popular and influential pastoral play, Il pastor fido (1589; The Faithful Shepherd), which stirred up a far-reaching critical debate. Guarini's controversial innovation was in mixing the noble and sentimental styles to create a new genre, his "pastoral tragicomedy," which went far beyond its model, Tasso's Aminta, in combining heroic and pastoral elements. He… Read More

In Glasgua, Della Stampa di Roberto ed Andrea Foulis e si Vendono Appresso Loro, e Giovanni Balfour in Edinburgo, 1763. Small 8vo, 149 x 88 mms., pp. 264, 7 engraved plates by Sebastien Le Clerc (1637 - 1714), contemporary calf, gilt ruled border on cover, spine ornately gilt to a thistle motif, olive morocco label; lower margin of one plate water-stained not affecting plate, joints cracked (but firm), top and bottom of spine chipped, corners worn, but a fair to good copy, with the bookplate of Joseph Knight dated 1863 on the front past-down marbled end-paper, and three autograph inscriptions on the recto of the second front free end-paper, that of Joseph Knight (faint), "George White A. M./ Rector of Huntspill/ Somersetshire/ late Fellow of Balliol/ College Oxford/ 1789," and "[?Scott Nevell]/ 1870." Guarini's Il Pasto Fido was first published in 1590 in Venice. Gaskell 418.

Bristo: Printed and sold by S. Farley....; Sold also by T. Cadell..., 1774. 8vo,, 208 x 120 mms., pp. [viii] [1] 2 – 83 [84 adverts].� BOUND WITH: Percy, A Tragedy. As it is acted at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden. London: Printed for T. Caell…, 1778. Pp. [viii], [1] 2 – 87 [88 adverts], with an errata slip before the Prologue, which was written by David Garrick. FIRST EDITION.� BOUND WITH: The Fatal Falsehood: A Tragedy. As it is acted at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden. By the Author of Percy. Second Edition. London: Printed for T. Cadell…, 1780. Pp.[viii] [12 – 87 [88 adverts].� BOUND WITH: Sir Eldred of the Bower, and the Bleeding Rock: Two Legendary Tales. The Second Edition, corrected. London: Printed for T. Cadell…, 1778. Pp. [vi], [1] 2 – 49 [50 adverts].�Four works in one volume, page size 208 x 122 mms., bound in contemporary mottled calf, gilt roll border on covers, spine gilt in compartments to an urn motif, black… Read More

London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme..., 1808. 8vo, pp. 109 [110 blank], including half-title, disbound; some notes in pencil in margins and on last page of text.

London: Printed for thE Author, at Tully's Head..., 1737. FIRST EDITION. 8vo (in 4s), 188 x 115 mms., pp. [3 - 9] 10 -51 [52 adverts], including half-title, recent boards, green cloth spine, with title in gilt on green background on front cover. A fine copy for a modern binding. Theophilus Cibber produced the first performance of Dodsley's play in 1737, and it was immediately successful. The story is not uncommon: a royal person loses his way and meets someone who doesn't recognize the identity of his social superior. In the 19th century, Mark Twain used this conceit, or meme, for his novel, The Prince and the Pauper (1881). In a useful note published almost a hundred years ago, Olav K. Lundeberg comments, "Dodsley was content to follow the ballea narrative for his main motif, but he added a secondary theme, the love story, to make the material more acceptable in dramatized form.3 This love-story, not found in the ballad, occurs almost in identical form in Painter's Palace… Read More