.
THEATER/THEATRE
[
]
Early 18th-Century Jonson Collection — At End, a Most
AMBITIOUS Catalogue
(A Jonsonian Trio). Jonson, Ben. [The three celebrated plays of that excellent poet Ben Johnson]. London: Pr. for J. Walthoe, G. Conyers, J. Knapton, et al., 1732. 12mo (16.8 cm, 6.6"). Frontis., 96, 96, 100, 35, [1] pp., without the general title-page.
$800.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Volpone, The Alchemist, and Epicoene: Or, the Silent Woman: Three of Jonson's most popular and enduring comedies, happily followed by “A True and Exact Catalogue of All the Plays and Other Dramatick Pieces, That Were Ever Yet Printed in the English Tongue, in Alphabetical Order.” The plays were also issued separately; and while the title-page giving “The Three Celebrated Plays of That Excellent Poet Ben Jonson,” published by W. Feales, is not present here, the presence of
the Volpone plate (engraved by Jan Van der Gucht) and several pagination errata seem to indicate that this is indeed Feales's omnibus edition.
Provenance: Front pastedown with armorial bookplate (a crowned lion rampant, billetty) labelled “A.C.J.L.”
Binding: Contemporary speckled calf framed and panelled in blind with roll-bordered panel in plain calf, blind-tooled corner fleurons.
ESTC T79993. Binding as above, rebacked some time ago with mottled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt floral decorations in compartments; upper corners refurbished, edges and extremities rubbed, hinges (inside) cracked, volume holding. A copy without the general title-page, and with bookplate as above. First and last few leaves (including frontispiece) with offsetting to margins from pastedowns; back free endpaper with a corner torn away; pages age-toned, with some instances of mild foxing.
A nice 18th-century look at Jonson, with the bonus of the contemporary theatrical catalogue. (35449)

A Full CENTURY of SPANISH
POPULAR THEATER
(A CASE! of THEATRICAL'IA). (A Spanish Popular Theater Collection, 18281927). A collection of 316 plays. Madrid, Barcelona, & elsewhere: Various publishers, 1828–1927. Mostly small 8vo. Bound in 43 volumes.
$8250.00
Click the images for enlargement.
In these 43 sammelbande are plays by Hartzenbusch, Rodriguez Rubi, Breton de los Herreros, Lopez de Ayala, Garcia Gutierrez, Echegaray, Zorrilla, Eguilaz, Gil de Zarate, and many others.
One play was expressly written for the actress María Ana de Jesús Guerrero Torija.
Three of the plays are presentation copies from the playwrights.
Evidence of Readership: Six plays are marked up either as prompt or acting copies or by very interested readers.
A list of the collection is available.
All volumes are in good condition, except one which has waterstaining throughout. Texts sometimes have foxing or stains. Ten plays lack title-leaves. Such condition problems have been taken into account in establishing the price. (36083)

A Costume Designer's Interpretation of
Gogol
(A WORKING “DOCUMENT”). Gregory, Anne. [Costume illustration for] The government inspector by Nikolay Gogol. [U.S.]: ca. 1971. (27 cm, 10.65"). 24 col. illus.
$875.00
Click the images for enlargements.
A remarkable album: 24 panels of hand-inked and painted costume designs for a production of Gogol's Government Inspector (a.k.a. The Inspector General, originally Revizor). These delightful designs, slightly reminiscent in style of Jean de Brunhoff's illustrations, convey a great deal of personality; each panel's character is shown in a different pose — including those characters given more than one costume — with a range of expressions portrayed throughout. The images were painted on heavy panels bound together with cloth tape
leporello- or accordion-style, with the entire sequence unfolding as one very long, very impressive strip ABOUT 20 FEET LONG.
Following Anne Gregory's name on the cover here is the designation, “'71,” but its significance has not been established. There was a premiere of Zador's revised operatic version of The Government Inspector at El Camino College in that year, and these do look like they could be operatic costumes; so perhaps the date refers to that production — or, perhaps “Anne Gregory” was to graduate from that institution or another, that year.
As above, cover panels with small smudges, interior panels clean and bright.
A unique and extensive work of art, offering literary, theatrical, and costuming interest in addition to its aesthetic pleasures. (36014)



Aeschylus from the Royal Printer
Aeschylus. [title in Greek, transliterated as] Aischylou Prometheus desmotes, Hepta epi Thebais, Persai, Agamemnon, [Choephoroi], Eumenides, Hiketides. Parisiis: Ex officina Adriani Turnebi Typographi Regii, 1552. 8vo (17 cm, 6.75"). [8], 211, [1] pp.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
First Turnèbe edition of Aeschylus' complete works, here with a dedication by the French humanist himself and a two-page “Bios Aischylou tou poietou,” following the first Aldine edition of 1518. Adrien Turnèbe (1512–65) was chair of Greek at the College Royal in France and succeeded Robert Estienne as Royal Printer for Greek (although his appointment was contested by Charles Estienne). Here, according to Dibdin, he “very materially” corrected the Aldine text, and added a table of various readings.
The text is printed in mostly single columns using the “Cicero” Greek font of Garamond's grecs du roi, with foliated headpieces and decorative initials at the start of each section and Turnèbe's basilisk device on the title-page; this offering is the variant with A3 and A4 signed. Following the editio princeps, “Agamemnon” and “Choephori” are conflated.Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear of both book and housing.
Adams A263; Mortimer, French 16th-Century Books, 3; Brunet, I, 77; Schreiber, Catalogue 37, no. 2; Dibdin, Greek and Latin Classics, p. 237; Hoffmann, Bibliographisches Lexicon der gesammten Literatur der Griechen, I, p. 32; Gruys Early Printed Editions (1518-1664) of Aeschylus, no. II-3 (p. 31-46). On Turnèbe, see: Renouard, Imprimeurs parisiens. 19th-century speckled calf, board edges with gilt zigzag rolls, all edges speckled red; recently rebacked, top edge darkened, boards worn with loss of most gilt, new endpapers with some discoloration and one pencilled phrase. Housed in a navy blue cloth clamshell case with two gilt red leather spine labels. Title-page and first few leaves affected by two unsuccessful leaf repairs leading to chipping, glue action, and a few tears; remainder of text with several pagination errors, a handful of spots, one edge tear from paper manufacture, and one waterstained bottom corner. Ownership label as above, a few leaves with light marks in pencil, one underline in ink. (38365)

Wayward Wives & Shysters in Disguise
Specifically CALIFORNIAN Comedy
Baer, Warren. The duke of Sacramento. San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, 1934. 8vo. [12], 77, [1] pp.; illus.
$60.00
Click the images for enlargements.
One of the earliest comedies produced in San Francisco, CA: “Reprinted from the rare edition of 1856, to which is added a sketch of the Early San Francisco Stage by Jane Bissell Grabhorn, and Illustrations by Arvilla Parker.” This is the first volume of the third series of “Rare Americana” from Grabhorn Press; 550 copies were printed.
Publisher's quarter cream textured cloth with light blue fleur-de-lis printed paper sides, spine with printed paper label; lacking the blue dust-wrapper, small spot of staining at head of spine, otherwise a very nice example. (28209)
For
more of CALIFORNIA interest, click
here.

Deluxe Signed Limited Edition PUBLISHER'S COPY: Life of a Science Fiction Pioneer
(Bradbury, Ray). Weist, Jerry.
BRADBURY: An illustrated life. A journey to far metaphor. Hampton Falls, NH: Donald M. Grant, 2004. Folio (29.2 cm, 11.5"). [36], xxvi, 195, [1] pp.; illus.
$1150.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First, limited edition thus of a visual record of the great Ray Bradbury's career in comics, movies, television, theatre, and literature. This profusely illustrated limited edition includes
32 pages of material not present in the trade edition (incorporated here after the William Morrow title-page dated 2002, marked first edition): the volume opens with the previously unpublished “The Ghosts of Forever: A Film Fantasy,” illustrated by Joseph A. Mugnaini, and “Switch on the Night,” a reproduction of portions of Bradbury's original manuscript bearing his own illustrations. The foreword is by Donn Albright, and the introduction by Bradbury.
Binding: Crimson “snakeskin” leatherette, front cover and spine with decorative gilt-stamped title and creature vignette, housed in matching clamshell case with front cover and spine similarly gilt-stamped.A total of 26 lettered copies were issued in the binding described above. In addition to being
signed by Bradbury and Weist on the title-page, the present example is an
out-of-series copy marked (in red ink, on the title-page) as the publisher's copy.
Binding as above. A beautiful and unique copy of a striking tribute. (33416)

Mr. Brecht, Bring Down This “Fourth Wall”
Brecht, Bertolt; Jack Levine, illus.; Eric Bentley, intro. The threepenny opera. New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1982. 4to (29.3 cm, 11.5"). 155, [3] pp.; 12 plts. (incl. in pagination, incl. frontis.).
$125.00
Click the images for enlargements.
This edition of Bertolt Brecht's script for one of the 20th century's most innovative and political musicals is limited to 2,000 copies, of which this is no. 1496. The translation is that of Desmond Vesey, with lyrics rendered in English by Eric Bentley, who also wrote the introduction. The
12 full-page illustrations are reproductions of Jack Levine's etchings of scenes from G.W. Pabst's 1931 film version of The Threepenny Opera, and one three-color lithograph
pulled by Emiliano Sorini specially for this edition. Howard I. Gralla designed the book choosing a 12-point Walbaum font with two points leading-space between the lines.
This is numbered copy 1063 of the 2000 printed, signed by both Levine and Bentley at the colophon. The monthly newsletter is laid in.
Binding: Full black linen, stamped in gold on the front cover from a design by Levine, with gilt lettering to spine.
Binding, slipcase, and illustrations all properly evoke the grittiness of the London underworld.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 529. Bound as above, in original black slipcase with gilt lettering to spine; minor rubbing to slipcase. A highly enjoyable copy of a fine production. (39034)

Political / Jurisprudential / Theatrical SATIRE
[Broome, Ralph]. Letters from Simpkin the second to his dear brother in Wales, containing an humble description of the trial of William Hastings, Esq. with Simon's answer. Dublin:P. Byrne & J. Moore, 1788. 8vo (18.5 cm, 7.25"). 46 pp. (lacking half-title).
$325.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First Irish printing, from the same year as the English first: Broome, adopting the persona of a Welsh country bumpkin, mocks Sheridan and other members of Parliament for their proceedings during the trial of William Hastings.
ESTC N2497. Recent marbled-paper wrappers, front wrapper with paper title label. Lacking half-title. Title-page with lower corner neatly off, otherwise in excellent, clean condition. (3247)
For WALES / WELSH, click here.

Calderon & Pseudo-Calderon in
One Thick Volume
Calderon de la Barca, Pedro. Sammelband with 19 of his comedias sueltas. Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia: Various publishers, ca. 1750–95. Small 4tos. (see below).
$3100.00
Click the images for enlargements.
This volume of 18th-century printings of some of Calderon's plays was assembled in the second half of the 20th century, and includes true “comedias sueltas” and extracted plays from published editions of “obras.” The list of plays is:
1) [drop title] Comedia famosa. El monstruo de los jardines. [colophon: Barcelona: por Francisco Suria y Burgada], no date [1760–70]. [18] ff. “Num. 39" in upper right corner of first page.
2) [drop title] Comedia famosa. Apolo y Climene. [colophon: Valencia: En la imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1767]. 42 pp. “N. 121" in upper left corner of page 1. Colophon pasted over with a slip: “Se hallara esta con un surtido de Comedias antiguas y modernas, Tragedias y Saynetes en la Libreria de Gonzalez, calle de Atocha, frente de la Casa de los Gremios.”
3) [drop title] Loa para la comedia De la purpura de la Rosa. [followed immediately by] Comedia famosa. La purpura de la Rosa. No place: no printer/publisher, no date [Spain, ca. 1750]. [16] ff. No sequence number on first page.
4) [drop-title] Los tres mayores prodigios. Comedia famosa. No place: no printer/publisher, no date [Spain, ca. 1750]. [24] ff. No sequence number on first page.
5) [drop-title] Comedia famosa. El laurel de Apolo. No place: no printer/publisher, no date [Spain, ca. 1750]. [16] ff. “Num. 157" in upper right corner of first page.
6) [drop-title] Comedia famosa. La fiera, el rayo, y la piedra. No place: no printer/publisher, no date [Spain, ca. 1750]. 30 ff. No sequence number on first page.
7) [drop-title] Comedia famosa. Ni amor se libra de amor. No place: no printer/publisher, no date [Spain, ca. 1750]. [24] ff. No sequence number on first page.
8) [drop-title] Comedia famosa. Auristela y Lisidante. [colophon: Barcelona: por Francisco Suria y Burgada], no date [1760–70]. [18] ff. “Num. 73" in upper right corner of first page.
9) [drop-title] Comedia famosa. Fineza contra fineza. No place: no printer/publisher, no date [Spain, ca. 1750]. [24] ff. No sequence number on first page. Comprised of pp. 449 through 496 of vol. 2 of the 1760 Apontes edition of Comedias del célebre poetia [sic] español, don Pedro Calderón de la Barca.
10) [drop-title] La gran comedia. Los tres afectos de amor, piedad, desmayo, y valor. No place: no printer/publisher, no date [Spain, ca. 1761]. 49 pp. No sequence number on first page. Comprised of pp. 1 through 49 of vol. 5 of the 1760 Apontes edition of Comedias del célebre poetia [sic] español, don Pedro Calderón de la Barca.
11) [drop-title] Comedia famosa. El hijo del Sol Faeton. [colophon: Barcelona: por Francisco Suria y Burgada], no date [1760–70]. [20] ff. “Num. 43" in upper right corner of first page.
12) [drop-title] Comedia famosa. Eco, y Narcisco. [colophon: Valencia: En la imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1767]. 36 pp. “N. 117" in upper left corner of page 1.
13) [drop-title] Comedia famosa. Darlo todo, y no dar nada. [colophon: Barcelona: por Francisco Suria y Burgada], no date [1760–70]. [20] ff. “Num. 80" in upper right corner of first page.
14) [drop-title] Comedia bvrlesca. Cefalo, y Pocris. No place: no printer/publisher, no date [Spain, ca. 1750]. [16] ff. No sequence number on first page. (pseudo-Vera Tassis, IX, 9).
15) [drop-title] La gran comedia. Zelos avn del ayre matan. No place: no printer/publisher, no date [Spain, ca. 1683–1715]. 38 pp. No sequence number on first page. This pp. 259–296 of Vera Tassis, II, 7.
16) [drop-title] Comedia famosa. De la estatua de Prometeo. No place: no printer/publisher, no date [Spain, ca. 1750]. [18] ff. Num. 194" in upper right corner of first page. Lower margin closely trimmed with loss of some signature markings.
17) [drop-title] El mayor encanto amor, comedia famosa. No place: no printer/publisher, no date [Spain, ca. 1750]. 48 pp. No sequence number on page 1. (pseudo-Vera Tassis, II, 2).
18) [drop-title] Comedia famosa. Amado, y aborrecido. No place: no printer/publisher, no date [Spain, ca. 1750]. [18] ff. “Num. 314" in upper right corner of first page.
19) [drop-title] Comedia famosa. El golfo de la Sirenas. Egloga piscatoria. [colophon: Barcelona: por Francisco Suria y Burgada], no date [1760–70]. [12] ff. “Num. 47" in upper right corner of first page. Some words in English translation in margins, 19th-century hand.
Unless otherwise stated, all reference numbers are to Riechenberger, Bibliographisches Handbuch der Calderon-Forschung. 1) 1476; 2) 388; 3) 2622; 4) 1852; 5) 2579; 6) 997 (Pseudo-VeraTassis 3); 7) 1502 (Pseudo-VeraTassis 3); 8) 467; 9) 1023; 10) 1871; 11) 1174; 12) 896; 13) 736; 14) 603; 15) 613; 16) 972; 17) 1352; 18) 319; 19) 2564. 20th-century quarter brown calf with marbled paper sides; spine titled in gilt “Comedias famosas.” Condition of sueltas and plays greatly variable from clean to browned and waterstained; some few closely trimmed with actual texts never touched. Item 4: lacks first gathering (i.e., the “loa”). Item 7: last leaf tattered with small loss of perhaps ten words.
A handy and informative collection. (35212)

Introducing the U.S. to
Spanish GOLDEN AGE Theater
Calderon de la Barca, Pedro; Lope de Vega; Agustin Moreto; Francisco Sales (comp. & ed.). Seleccion de obras maestras dramáticas, por Calderon de la Barca, Lope de Vega, y Moreto; con notas, índice y reglas esenciales al uso de los colegios y universidades de estos Estados Unidos. Boston: Munroe y Francis, 1828. 12mo (18.3 cm, 7.125"). [2] ff., 258 pp., [1] f.
$375.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Following on the success of his 1825 anthology, Colmena española; ó, Piézas escogídas de vários autóres españóles, moráles, instructívas, y divertídas, Harvard instructor Francisco Sales in 1828 produced the first edition of this compendium of three important Spanish Golden Age plays for use in U.S. prep schools and universities. His selections are: Calderon's “El principe constante,” Lope de Vega's “La estrella de Sevilla,” and Moreto's “El desden con el desden.”
There were subsequent editions in 1840, 1844, 1852, 1855, and 1860.
Some copies are reported on WorldCat as having only 255 pp., meaning they lack the leaves with the “Indice de dicciones anticuadas, licenias y contracciones poeticas contenidas en este volumen,” “reglas esenciales para los estudiantes del espanol,” “Tabla de las materias contenidas en este volumen,” and “Fe de erratas.”
Shoemaker 35095. Quarter off-white linen with blue-green paper sides and paper spine label, in style of U.S. books of the 1820s. Light age-toning; brown stain in upper outer corner of last few leaves. (38586)

“In Xanadu Did Kulba Khan” & Two Coleridge Heroines — First & Second Editions
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Christabel, &c. London: Pr. for John Murray by William Bulmer & Co., 1816. 8vo (21.5 cm, 8.4"). [2], [v]–vii, [1], 64 pp. (2 prelim. ff. lacking). [with] Zapolya: A Christmas tale, in two parts. London: Pr. for Rest Fenner by S. Curtis, 1817. 8vo. [6], 128 pp.
$1 500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
This is the second edition of “Christabel,” Coleridge's unfinished fantasy about innocent Christabel and her encounter with the ominously mysterious Geraldine, and the
first edition of Zapolya, Coleridge's last dramatic endeavor, which was originally intended for production at Covent Garden. Also present here, following the title piece, are “Kubla Khan” and “The Pains of Sleep.”
NCBEL, III, 217 & 218; NSTC 2C30234 & 2C30269. 19th-century calf framed in single gilt fillet, rebacked with darkening to cover edges especially along spine; new spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Both works lacking half-titles (only). Pages slightly age-toned with occasional instances of faint spotting, otherwise quite clean.
An unusual DOUBLE highlight of Coleridgiana. (33141)

“Un Hombre Como Yo de Tal Nobleza . . . ”
Concha, Josef [José]. Monologo unipersonal titulado: Don Anton el Holgazan. [Madrid]: El Puesto de Josef Sanchez, [ca. 1799-1803]. 4to (21.2 cm, 8.4"). 8 pp.
$150.00
Click the images for enlargements.
This comedia suelta is a monologue in verse, from a once-popular, now rather obscure comic dramatist of the late 18th century. The estimated date of publication comes from WorldCat, which finds
no U.S. institutional holdings of this uncommon piece.
Removed from a nonce volume, upper edges untrimmed; waterstaining to lower inner portion throughout, and light foxing.
A scarce find. (36584)

Illustrations
& Design by
T.M.
Cleland
Congreve, William. The way of the world. New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1959. Small folio. [1 (blank)] p., [1 (blank)] f., [1], illus. double-spread title-page, [1], vii-xxiii, [1], 108, [2 (1 blank)] pp., [1 (blank)] f., [1 (blank)] p.; illus.
$60.00

"To most people, "Restoration Comedy" calls to mind what is raciest in English literature, and what may indeed be rankest," writes Louis Kronenberger in his introduction to this edition (limited to 1500 copies) of William Congreve's The Way of the World. He continues, "But it is not only that the plays abound in obscenity and sexual license, that there hovers over them a sense of the dissolute; it is that their plots pivot on trickery and wiles, that there overhangs them a sense of deceit." This worldliness is certainly present in Congreve's play, the pinnacle of Restoration comedy, first produced in 1700.
T.M. Cleland illustrated the book with 16 hand-colored drawings of actors in period costume performing scenes from the play; he also designed it, choosing a monotype Janson font and a full maroon linen binding elaborately and charmingly blind-embossed on both covers. A contrastingly simple black leather spine label is stamped in gold with author and title.
This offering includes the monthly newsletter and mailing notice. T.M. Cleland signs the colophon.
Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929-1985, 301. A fine copy with the slipcase.

“Then On to Meet Gaspar Maillol”
Craig, Edward Gordon. Gordon Craig's Paris diary, 1932–1933. North Hills, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 1982. Small 4to (22 cm; 8.625"). 154 pp., [1 (colophon)] f., col. facsims.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
As the on-line Britannica succinctly summarizes him, Craig (1872–1966) was an “actor, theatre director–designer, producer, and theorist who influenced the development of the theatre in the 20th century.” He was also the son of actress Ellen Terry.
First printing. The diary has been reduced in length by about one-third for publication and edited by Colin Franklin. It covers a low point in Craig's life, but is detailed and tells of his friends Beerbohm, Isadora Duncan, Lovat Fraser, and others; the more offensive anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi comments were omitted.
“Three hundred fifty copies of tYay!his book have been printed at the Bird & Bull Press in March 1982. The text is composed in Baskerville types by Mackenzie-Harris Corp., printed on mouldmade Bugrabutten paper and bound by Gray Parrot. This is copy No. 149.”
FYI: Original publication price was $160.
And it's still a lovely book.
Heaney, Thirty years of Bird & Bull, A34. Publisher's quarter tan goat with tan and white paper sides. Clean and fresh. (36133)

Influential “Sacred Comedy” — Christian/Classical Theater
Crocus, Cornelius. Comoedia sacra cui titulus Joseph. Parisiis: Apud Christianum Wechelum, 1541. 8vo (14.8 cm, 5.82’’). 62 pp.
$975.00
Click the images for enlargements.
This successful Christian play on the life of Joseph the Patriarch followed in the wake of Gnaphaeus’s ground-breaking comoedia sacra, Acolastus. Relying on scant traces of early Christian drama, these novel plays brought biblical stories onto the secular stage through the dramatic and linguistic tradition of Terentian comedy, inventing
a Christian theater of a humanist nature blending moralism and linguistic refinement — one that proved a powerful didactic instrument for Christians and also for Latin-learning schoolchildren in post-Reformation Europe. (Cornelius Crocus (ca.1500–50), a Jesuit theologian and the dramatist here, was also a teacher at the Latin school in Amsterdam.)
First published in 1536 and here in its sixth edition, Joseph is printed in compact Italic with Wechel's woodcut printer’s device on both the title-page and the verso of the last leaf, and with two historiated woodcut initials in the text.
Provenance: On the title-page, 16th-century ownership inscription of François Couetoux and 17th-century pen trials (dated 1617) with Latin motto; indistinct 17th-century inscription on verso of last leaf.
WorldCat locates
one U.S. library (Harvard) reporting ownership of this edition.
Pettegree & Walsby, French Books, 63672. Not in Index Aurel.; not in DeBacker-Sommervogel. Disbound, outer edge close trimmed occasionally just touching shouldernotes, short closed tear or cut to lower edge to title-page not approaching print; text with limited light (often faint) waterstains to edges and light general soiling.
A good, representative survivor of an important hybrid tradition. (40845)

Bite-Sized Theatrical Morsels in
Fancy Dress — Signed Bindings
Cruz, Ramón de la. Sainetes de D. Ramón de la Cruz. Barcelona: Biblioteca “Arte y Letras” E. Domenech y Ca., 1882. 8vo (20.5 cm, 8"). 2 vols. I: [4], xliii, [1], 338, [2] pp.; 16 plts. (some incl. in pagination). II: [4], 343, [5] pp.; 5 plts.
$275.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Resplendent collection of clever, satiric 18th-century theatrical vignettes, originally intended to be performed as intermedios during longer plays. The pieces, which include “La Comedia de Maravillas,” “El Café de Máscaras,” “La Duda Satisfecha,” “Manolo,” and many others, appear here illustrated with
21 plates and numerous in-text engravings by José Llovera and A. Lizcano, most depicting lively social scenes, musicians, dancers, and flirtatious maidens. Although the second volume contains fewer plates than the first, it makes up for the difference with extra in-text images.
Signed Binding: Publisher's teal pebbled cloth, front covers with striking chariot and armorial scene in light blue, tan, and gilt. The “Cibeles” statue found in Madrid's Cibeles Plaza and the coat of arms (and gilt monogram) of the city of Madrid appear with de la Cruz's name stamped in gilt below; spines offer gilt-stamped title and black-stamped griffin decoration. Cover of vol. II is signed “J. Orba.” All page edges are stamped in a Greek key pattern in blue and gilt.
Provenance: Half-titles each with old-fashioned rubber-stamp of José Carmona y Ramos.
Palau 65340. Bindings as above, edges and extremities showing minor shelfwear, back cover of vol. I with small spots of faint discoloration, front joint of vol. II rubbed. Collector's stamp as above, each front pastedown with small paper label bearing hand-inked numeral. Pages age-toned; edges slightly embrittled, occasionally with small chips or short tears. Scattered light smudges in vol. I; vol. II with mild to moderate foxing.
A peacocky set. (29262)
For more books in handsome PUBLISHER'S CLOTH, click here.
For the HISPANIC MISCELLANY, click here.

An 1892 YALE Dissertation
Davidson, Charles. Studies in the English mystery plays. A thesis presented to the Philosophical Faculty of Yale University. New Haven: Yale University, 1892. 8vo. 174 pp.
$30.00
Doctoral thesis analyzing religious drama.
Fair in printed paper wrappers, front cover torn nearly in half. (438)

An Artist's View of the
Early Development of American Art
Dunlap, William. History of the rise and progress of the arts of design in the United States. New York: George P. Scott & Co., 1834. 8vo (24.6 cm, 9.7"). 2 vols. I: 435, [1] pp.; 1 facs. II: viii, 480 pp.
$450.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition. Dunlap (1766–1839) was “one of the first outstanding figures of the American stage” according to the Oxford Companion to the Theatre; sent to London to study painting with Benjamin West, he found the lure of the theatre more compelling and eventually became
a playwright, manager of New York’s Park Theatre, and vice president of the National Academy of Design. Here reverting to his first “life,” he provides interesting biographical accounts, full of anecdotes and personal observations, of numerous prominent American artists and their works. Vol. I features a facsimile of an autograph bill of sale, for portraits, by John Singleton Copley.
On Dunlap, see: Oxford Companion to the Theatre, 211. American Imprints 24237; BAL 5026; Howes D571; Sabin 21303. Publisher's quarter green diced cloth and tan paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped title; edges and extremities rubbed, corners bumped, spines sunned, sides with spots of staining and discoloration. Front hinges (inside) tender. Ex–social club library: spines with paper shelving labels, front pastedowns with 19th-century bookplates and inked shelving numbers, title-pages and one other in each volume rubber-stamped, no other markings. Some outer corners of vol. II lightly waterstained; a very few instances of small spots of staining. (27558)
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School's Out for the Summer! — Illustrated by the Brothers Dalziel
Editor of The Playmate. Home for the holidays; a pleasant remembrance of my early days. London: James Nelson & Co. (pr. by Thomas Horrild), 1859. 4to (22.6 cm, 8.89"). [2], 19, [1] pp.; 8 col. plts.
$475.00
Click the images for enlargements.
These gentle, nostalgic tales of summertime games and amusements (including a theatre excursion to see “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and “Beauty and the Beast,” playing cricket, pretending to be horses, and sailing toy boats) were
illustrated with a total of nine hand-colored drawings by Joseph Kenny Meadows, engraved by George and Edward Dalziel, two members of the famed Brothers Dalziel firm. The Playmate, also known as the Illustrated Juvenile Miscellany, was a children's periodical that later merged with Robert Merry's Museum; it is unclear who was holding the title of editor at the time of this work's publication. Whoever the anonymous author was, he set these very English stories in “Seacome Park,” England, close
to London. This is the second London edition of the work, following the first of 1848; WorldCat locates only three U.S. holdings.
Though this offers “stories” not “morality,” and its illustrations are meant only to give pleasure in connection with the stories, yet
a good deal can be gleaned here as to both “conduct” and “costume.” Binding: Publisher's blue textured cloth, covers framed with wide embossed strapwork and foliate borders, front cover with gilt-stamped decorative title and vignette of a small child reading a large book. All edges gilt.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
NSTC 2H27679. Binding as above, spine and edges rubbed and darkened with hinges (inside) cracked, upper outer corners bumped, areas of discoloration to back cover, none of this condemning and gilt vignette still bright. Pages faintly age-toned with occasional minor smudges; plates clean and appealing. (41207)

Comedy
Signed by the Playwright
Fry, Christopher. The lady’s not for burning: a comedy. London: Oxford University Press (pr. by Vivian Ridler), 1950. 12mo (18.9 cm, 7.5"). [8], 97, [1] pp.
$30.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Early edition, signed copy. Christopher Fry (1907–2005) was an English poet and playwright known for his revival of plays written in verse, a technique later adopted by friend and fellow playwright T.S. Eliot. The Lady's Not for Burning is Fry's most performed play; premiering in 1948, the romantic comedy set in the Middle Ages immediately received high praise from critics. This second edition is
signed by the playwright on the title-page.
Publisher's light green cloth with silver-stamped lettering to spine; dust jacket lacking, front board warped ever so slightly and with very faint lines of discoloration, rubbing to joints. Small bookseller's ticket of Mary Glasgow & Baker Ltd. (London) on front pastedown. Light foxing to fore-edge and interior.
A solid, sturdy, signed copy. (37949)
Galsworthy, John. The plays.... London: Duckworth, 1929. 8vo (22 cm, 8.6"). [8], 1150, [2] pp.
$100.00
Click the interior image for an enlargement.
27 plays by the Nobel laureate and author of the Forsyte Saga.
Signed binding: Contemporary half tan morocco with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with raised bands each accented above and below with single gilt rule and single black rule; gilt-stamped title, spine compartments framed in gilt with gilt dots in each corner and each with gilt center device. Front free endpaper stamped “Bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.” Top edge gilt; silk ribbon place marker.
Binding as above, spine slightly sunned, corners and extremities showing minor rubbing. Front pastedown with private collector’s armorial bookplate. Pages clean. (19752)
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A Major Play in the
Reemergence of Spanish Tragedy
[García de la Huerta, Vicente Antonio]. Raquel, tragedia española en tres jornadas. No place [Madrid]: No publisher/printer [Antonio de Sancha], no date [1778]. Small 8vo. 103, [1 (blank)] pp., plate.
$250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Raquel occupies an important place in the mid-18th-century rebirth of the writing of tragedies for the stage in Spain, notably for reestablishing the classical (i.e., Aristotelian) unities.
This particular edition has long been a mystery, but a fine cataloguer at the University of Salamanca has worked out what many others have not: This printing of Raquel, is a “separada del vol. I. de las “Obras poéticas” de Huerta, editadas por Sancha en 1778–79,” and this is why it seems complete by the pagination and signature collation, but yet seems to lack a title-page. It doesn't: One was never printed for it.
Aguilar Piñal, IV, 862; Herrera Navarro, Autores teatrales, 205; Palau 99106; Rodríguez Moñino, Antonio Sancha, 162. Contemporary acid-stained sheep (“pasta espanola”), spine label lost. Light foxing and old staining. Upper margin of the plate closely cropped, taking upper portions of all letters of first line of caption but not rendering reading impossible. A nice copy. (34987)

Presentation Copy
Hardy, E. Trueblood. Crowding the season: A comedy in three acts. New York: Samuel French, [1870]. 12mo. [1] f., 82 pp., [1 (blank)] f.
$65.00
No. CCCXVII. French's Minor Drama. Original printed wrappers. Inscribed on front cover "Presented by the author to Library Association January 23 - 1873". Author's embossed stamp inside, rubber-stamp ("Newark Library Association") on front.
Spine and covers chipped, rear cover separating, lower corner of front cover dog-eared. Title-page chipped at one corner. (310)

On a Most Ancient & Honourable Company — Presentation Copy
Heath, John Benjamin. Some account of the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the city of London. London: Privately printed, 1854. 8vo (26.8 cm, 10.55"). xvi, 580 pp.; 8 (1 fold.) plts.
$350.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Uncommon, privately printed second edition of this
illustrated history of the Company of Grocers — one of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of London — and some of its prominent members from its medieval origins through the early 1850s, written by Heath, governor of the Bank of England from 1845 to 1847. The illustrations include a map of Cheape Ward showing the Grocers' Hall and garden and an oversized, folding facsimile of the charter of incorporation, while the “Notices of Eminent Members” include renditions of their coats of arms. Also present are selections from some of the literature associated with the Grocers: speeches, plays, poems, etc.
Presentation copy: Half-title inscribed “Thomas Alex[ande]r Roberts Esq. [/] Presented by J.B. Heath July 1854.”
NSTC 2H15366; Cagle 736 (for first and third eds. only.); Goldsmiths'-Kress no. 25858.17 (first ed.). Publisher's olive green textured cloth, covers and spine blind-stamped, front cover with gilt-stamped armorial vignette, back cover with gilt-stamped device and motto, spine with gilt-stamped title; spine slightly sunned, extremities mildly rubbed. Hinges (inside) of this hefty volume now cracked, with joints tender but holding. One plate (the map dated 1560) with pencilled annotations. Some plates faintly age-toned; pages with a few instances of light foxing. A work
full of valuable and interesting detail in a nice, clean, and (as handled with care) sound copy. (37084)

The Importance of
“Goods Which Cannot Be Taken” When You Die
[Hughes, John, & John Arbuthnot]. Charon; or, the ferry-boat. A vision. Dedicated to the Swiss Count —. London: printed; and sold by W. Lewis near Covent-Garden, J. Brotherton and W. Meadows at the Black-Bull in Cornhill, J. Roberts in Warwick-Lane, and A. Dodd at the Peacock without Temple-Bar, 1719. 8vo (18.8 cm; 7.375"). [12], 26 pp.
$250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
A recommendation to reject earthly temptations and rewards told through a dreamlike description of mortals travelling to the afterlife with Charon, attributed to librettist John Hughes and satirist John Arbuthnot. The text is dedicated to John James Heidegger (1666–1749), a man known as the Swiss Count and responsible for promoting
masquerades in London.
This copy complete with the half-title.
ESTC T30532. Removed from a nonce volume, first and last few leaves delicately attached; light to moderate age-toning, pencilled date on margin of half-title. (37193)
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Children, THANKSGIVING, Glad Times!!
Irish, Marie, & Lenore K. Dolan. The glad time Thanksgiving book. Syracuse, NY: Willis N. Bugbee Co., © 1932. 12mo. 100 pp.
$40.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Children's collection of poems, recitations,
playlets, dances, stories, and songs about thankfulness, especially thankfulness for various seasonal delights. This is the sole edition (while WorldCat appears to list a 1923 printing, further exploration shows that to be a data entry error based on this edition's 1932 copyright date).
Publisher's printed cream-colored paper wrappers, front wrapper with cornucopia design in navy and gold; back lower outer corner bumped, light dust-soiling to back wrapper. One page with small affixed sticker in upper portion, partially obscuring header but no other text. (30227)
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A German
ROMANTIC Who Committed SUICIDE
Kleist, Heinrich von. Heinrich von Kleists hinterlassene Schriften, herausgegeben von L. Tieck. Berlin: Gedruckt und verlegt bei G. Reimer, 1821. 8vo (19.5 cm; 7.75"). lxxviii, 290 pp.
$1000.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Posthumous publication for the first time of a selection of Kleist's plays and poetry (he committed suicide in 1811). Tieck, the editor, present here “Prinz Friedrich von Homburg,” “Die Herrmannsschlacht,” “Fragment aus dem Trauerspiel Robert Guiskard,” and several poems.
Kleist's life was a troubled one financially, psychologically, and creatively. The Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th ed.) characterizes him as “by far the most important North German dramatist of the Romantic movement, and no other of the Romanticists approaches him in the energy with which he expresses patriotic indignation.”
Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only two copies in U.S. libraries, but we know of a third.
Later 19th-century blue-green marbled paper–covered boards; foxing and browning as typical of the paper with but a few odd spots additionally, and perhaps six leaves with a stain as from a spill, extending across text but not hampering reading. Very readable in both senses; a decent, solid copy of an important work of German literature. (33011)

The ESSAYS that Made Lamb's Reputation — 1st U.S. Edition
Lamb, Charles. Elia. Essays which have appeared under that signature in the London Magazine. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea, & Carey (pr. by Mifflin & Parry, and J.R.A. Skerrett), 1828. 12mo (I: 18.4 cm, 7.25", II: 16.8cm, 6.6"). 2 vols. I: 292 pp. II: 230 pp. (both vols. without ads.).
$1000.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First U.S. edition of the official first series, and
true first edition of the unofficial second series, of Lamb's pseudonymously published essays for the London Magazine. These eloquently written pieces mingle humor and pathos as they describe the experiences of the author and his acquaintances while attending boarding school, playing whist, listening to music, visiting Quaker meetings, etc. Food is a recurring topic (“A Dissertation upon Roast Pig”); there are two essays on Valentine's Day (one in each volume), and
several on plays and actors.
The first series made its first appearance in book form in London, 1823. The authorized second series was not published until 1833, under the title The Last Essays of Elia; the pieces selected for the unauthorized American second series offered here are different from those contained in that volume, and mistakenly include three essays written by other hands.
Shoemaker 33813 & 33814; NCBEL, III, 1225; NSTC 2L2346. Vol. I: Uncut copy. Publisher's quarter once-red cloth and paper sides, covers printed with “Elia” within a simple frame, spine with printed paper label; binding rubbed and lightly soiled, spine sunned to yellow. Repaired tear to one leaf, touching text without loss; remarkably clean and sound. Vol. II: Contemporary speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; rubbed, and head of spine chipped with old refurbishing. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and call number ticket on front pastedown, front free endpaper with inked numerals, title-page pressure-stamped. Author's name inked on title-page; front free endpaper and title-page reinforced at fore-edge (the latter from the back). Both volumes age-toned, with intermittent spots of staining; advertisements absent. The set now housed in a quarter blue morocco and blue cloth–covered clamshell case with marbled paper–covered sides and gilt-stamped spine. (26434)
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Illustrated Theatre Edition
Maclaren, Ian (John Watson). Beside the bonnie brier bush. New York: R.F. Fenno & Co., 1905. 8vo. Frontis., 258 pp.; 5 plts.
$85.00
Click the images for enlargements.
The earliest and best-known of all the tales of rural Scottish life published by “Ian Maclaren,” pseudonym of the popular author and preacher John Watson. This special illustrated theatre edition of the Rev. Watson's beloved work (originally published in 1894) features a photographic frontispiece of James H. Stoddart in the role of Lachlan Campbell, as well as five other scenes both comic and tragic. The final section of the volume is “A Doctor of the Old School,” a loving portrayal of stalwart practitioner Dr. William MacLure.
Binding: Publisher's tan cloth, front cover with double iris design stamped in green, white, and violet.
Binding as above, minimal rubbing only. Pages and plates clean. A beautiful copy. (28613)
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Maffei, Francesco Scipione. Teatro del Sig. Marchese Scipione Maffei cioè la tragedia la comedia e il drama non più stampato.... Verona: Gio. Alberto Tumermani, 1730. 8vo (19.7 cm, 7.75"). xli, [3], 281, [1] pp.; 1 fold. plt., illus.
$675.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition. Francesco and Andrea Zucchi were responsible for the copperplate engraving for this work: The title-page bears a copperplate vignette, with four other copperplate vignettes and one decorated capital present as well as the oversized, folding plate. Giulio Cesare Becelli edited and introduced this collection of Maffei’s plays, providing what Gamba calls “tre erudite prefazioni.” The author was an archeologist and man of letters whose tragedy Merope (present here) achieved enormous popularity in not only his native Italy but also almost every country where translations appeared, including France, England, Germany, and Holland.
Gamba 2323; not in Brunet. Contemporary vellum over paste boards, outer edges yapp, spine with hand-inked title; vellum torn and partially lost over lower edge of front cover, with signs of wear and small spots of staining elsewhere. Ex-library, front pastedown with Italian institutional bookplate; yet volume otherwise free of markings. Title-page verso with affixed scrap of paper. Intermittently occurring light dampstaining in upper margins; otherwise clean. (17693)
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If you don't mind those Chipped labels . . . QUITE
Satisfactory!
Metastasio, Pietro. Opere scelte di Pietro Metastasio. Drammi (vols. I, II, & 3); Azioni e feste teatrali; Opere sacre [,] poesie varie e traduzioni. Milan: Societa Tipografica de' Classici Italiani, 1820. 8vo. 5 vols. I: Frontis., LV, [1], 565, [3] pp. II: 642, [2] pp. III: 646, [2] pp. (lacking half-title). IV: 626, [2] pp. V: [4], 617, [11 (index)] pp.
$200.00
Five-volume set of collected works by the celebrated 18th-century poet and librettist, with the first three volumes dedicated to his historical plays.
Contemporary vellum, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels and gilt-stamped decorative bands; bindings lightly soiled, with spine labels chipped and rubbed, spines with shelving numbers in white. All page edges stained gold. Front pastedowns with institutional bookplates, title-pages with shadows of pencilled numerals. Vol. III lacking half-title. Intermittent light foxing, most pages clean. (14112)

Signed by
Arthur Miller & Leonard Baskin
Miller,
Arthur. Death of a salesman: certain
private conversations in two acts and a requiem ... With five etchings by Leonard
Baskin. New York City: The Limited Editions Club, 1984. 4to. [12], 5–164,
[3 (1 blank)] pp.; 5 plts.
$975.00
Click the images for enlargements.
This Limited Editions Club copy (no. 880 of 1500 printed) is
signed by both the playwright and the illustrator at the colophon.
The binding is full rusty-brown Nigerian goat, stamped in gold on the spine. The etchings are by Leonard Baskin, a series of five portraits tracing the downward spiral of Willy Loman — a powerful complement to Miller's portrait of a salesman at the end of his career and at the end of his rope! The plates, printed by Bruce Chandler, are each protected by a brown paper tissue guard. The book is designed by Benjamin Schiff, who chose a Bulmer font for the text.
This offering includes the monthly newsletter but not the mailing notice.
Limited Editions Club, Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 1929–1985, 540. Binding as above. One of the tissue guards is loose but otherwise undamaged. Fine, in the original slipcase. A handsome production of one of the most performed plays in the world! (21754)
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A Popular Tragedy, from the Bodoni Press
(A Discrepancy in States, the AUTHOR's Fault??)
Monti, Vincenzo. Aristodemo, tragedea. Parma: Dalla Stamperia Reale, 1786. 4to (27.3 cm, 10.74"). Frontis., [10], 130, [2 (blank)] pp.
$950.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: Striking Bodoni printing of a classically inspired tragedy, limited to 160 copies and presented
very handsomely in large type with wide margins. Written in 1784, the play premiered at the Ducal Theater of Parma in the same year of this first publication. Although Giani suggests that there was one printing of 136 pages and another of 132 (not affecting the text, and without any plausible reason as far as he could tell), neither Brooks nor de Lama makes such a distinction — the discrepancy may be related to the author's having made numerous textual corrections right up until the last minute, perhaps reflected in the two cancel leaves in this copy.
The dramatic copper-engraved frontispiece was done by Barbazza after Mazzoneschi.
Binding: 19th-century dark blue and tan floral pastepaper–covered boards, gilt-stamped red leather title-label on spine; all edges gilt.Provenance: Pastedown and front free endpaper with bookplates of Brian Douglas Stilwell and Robert Wayne Stilwell.
Brooks 312; De Lama, II, 40; Giani 31 (p. 92); Graesse, III, 592. Bound as above, corners and spine extremities rubbed not reducing handsome effect. Title-page with light offsetting from frontispiece and light smudges in outer margin; otherwise, scattered spots of light foxing and a few small stains, some leaves with faint creasing.
A clean and attractive copy. (40131)

A Very Autobiographical Comedy
Moore, George. The coming of Gabrielle a comedy. New York: Boni & Liveright, 1921. 8vo (21 cm; 8.25"). 132, [1] pp.
$50.00
Click the images for enlargement.
First U.S. edition of this comedy about literary identity and the attentions paid to a successful author, based on a real-life incident in which a European baroness began to write to Moore following the appearance of his Evelyn Innes. This was a limited edition of 895 numbered copies, of which the present example is no. 351.
Publisher's quarter cream parchment paper and blue paper sides, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped leather title-labels, in original blue-gray paper dust jacket with black-stamped title and edition information; binding in beautiful condition, jacket with small edge chips and spine head splitting. Pages clean. A nice copy. (29707)
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Limited Editions Club: O'Neill Comedy
O'Neill, Eugene. Ah, wilderness! New York: Printed for the members of the Limited Editions Club, 1972. Folio (28.5 cm, 11.25"). 161, [3] pp.; 8 col. plts. (4 double-page).
$175.00
Click the images for enlargements.
A humorous rendition of the playwright's own youthful romantic indiscretions, here with an introduction by Walter Kerr, red and blue decorations drawn by Sylvie Roizen, and
eight full-color plates (four of which are double-page spreads) printed by Holyoke Lithograph Co. from oil paintings by Shannon Stirnweis. The artist elected to “bring the reader into the setting as a member of the audience” (according to the newsletter) by depicting the first scene as if the viewer were sitting in the theater, with subsequent images moving the viewer on stage and sweeping the other audience members out of sight.
This is
numbered copy 1346 of 1500 printed, signed at the colophon by the artist. The appropriate Club newsletter and prospectus are both laid in. The volume was designed by Adrian Wilson, set in Monotype Kennerley and Mars types, and printed on Curtis wove paper by Clifford Burke at Mackenzie and Harris, Inc.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 445. Publisher's quarter red cloth and firework-printed paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label, in original glassine wrapper and matching slipcase; glassine wrapper with small portion torn away from lower back edge and nicks to lower edge and spine head, slipcase with one nick to paper at one edge of foot, volume clean and lovely. Overall in beautiful condition. (34066)

Uncommon Then & Now
Parabosco, Gerolamo. Il Viluppo, comedia nova. In Vinegia: Appresso Gabriel Giolito de'Ferrari, 1567. 12mo (13.7 cm, 5.4"). 59, [1] ff.
$450.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Uncommon edition of Parabosco's second comedy. In addition to his other plays and various literary works, Venetian Parabosco (c. 1524–57) composed several madrigals and served as the organist at Saint Mark's. As might be expected from a Giolito production, the text here is handsomely printed in single columns with italic type incorporating a variety of
decorative headpieces, type ornaments, and historiated initials; two versions of his printer's device appear on the title-page and final page of text.
This edition follows those of 1547 and 1560, which was actually a collection with five additional Parabosco plays, and precedes a 1568 edition. Searches of Worldcat, COPAC, and NUC Pre-1956 reveal only three U.S. institutions reporting ownership (Duke, UPenn, and the Folger). This edition is also notably absent from most relevant bibliographies.
Provenance: An armorial bookplate of 19th-century English book collector Edward Cheney with the motto “Fato Prudentia Major” appears on the front pastedown; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Bongi, Annali di Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, I, p. 147 (1547 ed.); EDIT16 CNCE 26527. This edition not in Adams, Brunet, or Graesse. On Parabosco, see: Treccani (online). Vellum over boards, publication information inked on spine; evenly dust-soiled with ink faded. One tiny chip along edge of title-page; otherwise, light age-toning with a handful (only) of small light stains. Bookplate and label as above.
A pretty, pocket-sized play from a great 16th-century press. (39555)
Parabosco, Girolamo. L’hermafrodito. Comedia... di nuovo ricorretta e ristampata. Vinegia: Gabriel Giolito de’Ferrari, 1560. (13.5 cm, 5.25"). 48 ff. [bound with the same author’s] Il Marinaio. Vinegia: Gabriel Giolito de’Ferrari, 1560. 59 ff. (lacking ff. 2 & 3, and final blank). [with] Il viluppo. Comedia nova....Vinegia: Gabriel Giolito de’Ferrari, 1568. 59, [1] ff. [with] Il pellegrino. Vinegia: Gabriel Giolito de’Ferrari, 1560. 36 ff.
$600.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Collection of early editions of four comedies by composer and playwright Parabosco. Two other plays are cited by Brunet as part of the overall work, but are not present here; Adams and some other sources describe the six pieces as separately issued. The plays included in this volume are L’Hermafrodito, Il Marinaio, Il Viluppo (with a publication line dated 1568), and Il Pellegrino.
Adams P238, P239, P246 (1560 ed. only), P243; Brunet, IV, 356. Contemporary vellum-covered boards, spine with inked title; vellum slightly soiled, with spine title faded. All edges stained blue. First title-page mounted and several leaves with outer margins or upper outer corners reinforced, two pages with loss of a few letters at upper outer corners. Second play lacking two preliminary leaves and final register leaf. Two leaves with annotations in an early inked hand, now faded; pages with intermittent mild waterstaining. (14697)
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“Your Very Affectionate, Louis N. Parker” — Autobiography with Signed Letter
Parker, Louis N. Several of my lives. London: Chapman & Hall, 1928. 8vo (22.7 cm, 8.875"). viii, 312 pp.; 32 plts.
$125.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: From the prolific British playwright, an illustrated autobiography with signed ephemera laid in, mounted, or tipped in
including a handwritten letter and poem written by Parker, photographs, and newspaper clippings. Louis N. Parker (1852–1944), best known for his 1911 play Disraeli, started his career composing music after attending the Royal Academy of Music; as he began to lose his hearing, he became increasingly involved with drama instead. During his career, he wrote or translated (either alone or in collaboration) over 100 plays, and organized pageants — huge drama festivals involving hundreds of performers, inspiring a rise in “pageantitis” in England.
Parker's biography is well illustrated with 32 black-and-white plates (including his frontispiece portrait) featuring the many people he met throughout his “lives” — early life, musical life, theatrical life, and pageant life (as the book is sectioned).
Binding: Half red morocco double gilt-ruled, over red cloth sides; five raised bands to spine, lettering or elegant gilt floral decoration in ruled compartments. Top edge gilt, fore- and bottom edges untrimmed.
Signed by Bickers & Son.
Provenance & added material: Previously owned by Parker's friend “Saint” (unidentified; see further). Mounted on front free endpaper, a black and white photograph of Parker in front of shelves holding a glass collection; mounted underneath is a clipping from a letter: “Your very affectionate, Luigi.” On following verso, a newspaper clipping of an interview from 1932 is tipped in; on the next recto is mounted a letter to “Saint” (a delightfully written apology for the friend's absence in the book) with, on its second leaf, an original poem asking his friend to “accept this trivial book.” Additional newspaper clippings laid in. On rear pastedown, a black and white photograph with a small ink note indicating it is of Parker's salon; on rear free endpaper, Parker's obituary clipped from the Illustrated London News (as indicated by previous owner's pencilled note) dated 1944. Occasionally a pencilled word or checkmark; one clipping with cut-off words supplied in ink.
Bound as above, minor rubbing to corners, small stain and light fading to boards; offsetting to endpapers and soiling from glue used to attach ephemera, evidence of one glue-in removed. Evidence of readership as above; one checkmark in old-fashioned red pencil.
A splendid, unique volume containing intriguing related ephemera — clearly owned by a special friend of Parker's. (38018)

MYSTIC or Pragmatic Wife?
Pérez Galdós, Benito. La loca de la casa, comedia en cuatro actos. Madrid: Imprenta de la Guirnalda, 1893. 12mo (18.2 cm, 7.15"). [8], 294 pp.
$100.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition: Acclaimed play from a prominent Spanish realist author, addressing issues of class, materialism, and feminism.
Palau 220783. Contemporary quarter maroon sheep and red pebbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and compartment decorations; spine attractively darkened, edges and extremities rubbed, sides with spots of discoloration. Front free endpaper with private shelf-code sticker; title-page with private collector's rubber-stamp. Pages age-toned, with some scattered small smudges or spots of light staining. (29936)
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Philadelphia
Poets, Playwrights, & Publishers BEWARE
Pindar, Jr., Peter [pseud. of Nathaniel Chapman Freeman]. Parnassus in Philadelphia. A satire by Peter Pindar, Jr. Philadelphia: [Privately Printed], 1854. 12mo. 58 pp.
$250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
A well-done poetic skewering of prominent literary Philadelphians
(poets,
playwrights,
journalists, periodical editors and publishers) of the mid–19th century
as well as fulmination on some practices and events. Uncommon, as one would
expect, as
privately
printed.
Sabin 62915. Publisher's plain dark gray boards, front cover with “Parnass” etched in an early hand; rubbed overall with front joint carefully repaired, spine and edges subtly restored with toned repair tissue. Ex-library, spine with remnants of paper shelving label, front pastedown with faint traces of now-absent bookplate, pencilled annotation along inner margin of first text page. Front pastedown with early pencilled note regarding contents. Light foxing, a bit of soiling. (24837)
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Two Seasonal Spectacles at the Theatre Royal
SPECIAL EFFECTS 1829
Playbill. Broadside. Begins: Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. This evening, Monday, December 28, 1829, His Majesty's Servants will act the tragedy of King Richard III. [London]: Pr. by J. Tabby, [1829]. Folio (34.5 cm, 13.5"). [2] ff.
$125.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Unusual theatrical bifolium: two attached playbills from 1829. The first sheet advertises a Shakespeare production starring Mr. Aitken, Mr. Kean, Mrs. Faucit, and Miss Faucit, along with
“a Splendid Comic Christmas Pantomime” called Jack in the Box; or, Harlequin and the Princess of the Hidden Island. The latter includes a descriptive list of the scenes as painted by Clarkson Stanfield (“The Giant's Dining Parlour,” “Lime-Kilns, near Gravesend,” “Cheesemonger's Shop and Wine Vaults,” etc.).
The second sheet is for Stanfield's “Grand Local Diorama,” the grand finale of which involved the “magnificent display of the Falls of the Virginia Waters, seen through the Fairy Temple of Luminaria” — facilitated by a hydraulic apparatus capable of discharging 39 tons of water, “forming a coup d'oeil never before witnessed on any stage.”
A contemporary of Stanfield's once called him “the prince of scene-painters,” and his dioramas were legendary for their beauty and immersive effects.
Split halfway up center fold and neatly repaired from rear; one untrimmed outer edge slightly ragged. Gently age-toned.
Delightful (and very displayable) piece of theatrical ephemera. (36575)

Popular Culture & GRAPHICS in Mexico
at the
Turn of the 20th Century
Posada, José Guadalupe. A collection of his pamphlet work and similar work by contemporaries. Mexico: Various publishers, 1880–1920. Most are 16mo (14.5 cm, 5.71"). Most are between 8 and 16 pp. plus wrappers.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
The oeuvre of Jose Guadalupe Posada Aguilar (1852–1913) is steeped in social engagement, satirical acuteness, and wry humor presented to the reader and observer in woodcut and lithographic illustrations for periodicals and chapbooks. During the late Porfiriate and early years of the Mexican Revolution, his art enticed the buyers of popular, very cheaply produced songsters; political broadsides; cookbooks; and single-sheet accounts of hangings, disasters, crimes, volcanic eruptions, and other sensational events.
Six of the publications here are signed, “Posada”; others are simply unmistakable; several are from his most famous publisher but were printed after his death and may or may not be restrikes. A few may simply be “in his style” and therefore, as part of the lot, invite considerations of his context.
The present collection consists of 13 pamphlet/chapbook items, with a good representation of books for children, women, and the general reader. They include a volume of popular recipes for health problems, two booklets offering embroidery patterns (with women at their frames on the pamphlets' covers and the patterns on colored papers), several plays for children to perform (“Les Gendarmes”) and for adults to read (“Don Juan”), compilations of patriotic songs and biographies, and so on. One wrapper is pink, two are gold, one front cover is printed in black and red; rear covers offer advertisements of the publisher's other offerings, within varied borders, and three devote the back wrapper to a poem.
The list follows:
1) Vanegas Arroyo, Antonio. La salud en el hogar. Tercera serie de la coleccion de 300 recetas utiles para curar las enfermedades mas comunes. Mexico: Imprenta y Encuadernacion, n.d. [ca. 1900–18].
2) Muestras para bordados. #9. Mexico: Publicadas por la testamentaria de A. Vanegas, n.d [ca. 1920]. Includes planchas 33–36.
3) Muestras para bordados. #10. Mexico: Publicadas por la testamentaria de A. Vanegas Arroyo, n.d. [ca. 1913]. Front cover signed, “Posada.” Includes planchas 38-40.
4) D. Juan Tenorio. Mexico: A. Vanegas Arroyo, n.d. [1880, date on rear wrapper]. In series: Galeria del Teatro Infantil; Coleccion de comedias para niños o titeres. Front wrapper signed “Posada.”
5) Los gendarmes. Mexico: A. Vanegas Arroyo, n.d. [ca. 1910]. In series: Galeria del Teatro Infantil; Coleccion de comedias para niños o titeres.
6) Los celos del Negro con D. Folias. Mexico: A. Venegas Arroyo, n.d. [ca. 1910]. In series: Galeria del Teatro Infantil; Coleccion de comedias para niños o titeres. Front wrapper signed “Posada.”
7) La casa de vecindad. Mexico: A. Vanegas Arroyo, n.d. [ca. 1910]. In series: Galeria del Teatro Infantil. Front wrapper signed “Posada.” But rear wrapper indicates “la imprenta de la test. de A.V. Arroyo.”
8) Los novios. Mexico: [as per rear wrapper, Tipografia de la Testamentaria de A. Vanegas Arroyo, 1918]. In series: Galeria del Teatro Infantil.
9) Vanegas Arroyo, Antonio, comp. El sarape nacional. Moderna coleccion de canciones para el presente año. Mexico: A. Vanegas Arroyo, 1915. Front wrapper signed “Posada.”
10) Vanegas Arroyo, A., comp. La ex-moderna. Sexta coleccion de canciones para el presente año. [front wrapper: Mexico: A. Vanegas Arroyo] title-page: 1914].
11) Suarez, C. S. El placer de la niñes. Amar sin esperanza. Monologo. Mexico: Tip. de la Testa. de A. Vanegas Arroyo, n.d. [ca. 1918]. In series: Coleccion de monologos. Front wrapper signed “Posada.”
12) Vanegas Arroyo, Antonio, ed. La felicista: 13a coleccion de canciones modernas para el presente año. 1913. Mexico: Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, 1913.
13) Coleccion de himnos nacionales. No place, no publisher, no date, [but certainly Mexico: A. Vanegas Arroygo, and ca. 1880, as per rear wrapper].
Because of their ephemeral nature and their audience, copies of these are generally hard to find. All items are little held in the U.S., many in only one or two copies.
Overall condition is good to very good. #1 lower inside corners nibbled by rodent; #10 seriously wormed; a few items with wrapper paper beginning to split along spine, shallow dog-earring to corners, or small chipping and/or short rents to edges.
An excellent gathering whether for teaching or “just” for enjoyment. (41203)

A Great 18th-Century Printer Presents a
a Great 17th-Century Dramatist
Racine, Jean. Oeuvres de Jean Racine. Paris: de l'Imprimerie de Didot l'aine, 1784. 8vo in 4s (19 cm, 7.5". 3 vols. I: 463, [1] pp. II: [2] ff., 484 pp. III: [2] ff., 372 pp., [2] ff.
$950.00
Click the images for enlargements.
“Cette édition in-8o a été imprimée au nombre de 350 exemplaires, avec les nouveaux caractères de la fonderie de Didot l’aine, sur du papier-vélin de la manufacture de M[ess]rs. Johannot pere et fils, d’Annonaie, premiers fabricants en France de cette sorte de papiers” (vol. III, verso of leaf following p. 372). That is, this is printed on wove paper.
In the series Collection des auteurs classiques, françois et latins, this was issued in the same year in 4to and 18mo formats. The present, octavo format is not only handsomely conceived but
very “handy in the hands.”
Binding: Full crushed red morocco, gilt spine and boards, signed Petit Succs. de Simier; gilt rule on board edges, gilt rolls on turn-ins, marbled endpapers, green silk placemarkers. All edges gilt. Each volume in a light board open-back slipcase covered with marbled paper.
Provenance: Bookplates of Casimir L. Stralem, Clarence E. Clark, and Brian Douglas Stilwell, the trio presenting an appealing set of styles.
WorldCat locates copies of this edition in this format at only four U.S. libraries (UCLA, Georgetown, Library of Congress, Harvard).
Bulletin de la Librairie Morgand et Fatout 10951; Brunet, V, 1078–79; Jammes, Les Didot, 25. Bound as above, joints of all volumes slightly cracking with volumes otherwise only lightly worn; some tape repairs to the delicate slipcases. Age-toning and foxing of faintest varieties only.
Very Good. (40317)

“El Amor a la Memoria de
Mi Infeliz Hermano”
Rodríguez Galván, Ignacio. Poesías de D. Ignacio Rodriguez Galvan. Mejico: Impresas por M.N. de la Vega, 1851. Folio (24 cm; ). 2 vols. in 1. I: [4] ff., frontis., 311, [1 (blank)] pp., [1] f. II: 336 pp., [1] f.
$950.00
Click the images for enlargement.
First edition. Born in 1816 in the small town of Tizayuca in what is now the state of Hidalgo, Rodriguez Galvan is widely credited with being
the initiator of the Romantic movement in Mexico. He wrote novels, poetry, plays, and was the editor of several periodicals, most especially Calendario de las Señoritas Mexicanas and Año Nuevo, El Recreo de las Familias. He died of yellow fever in Havana in 1842 at the age of 27 while en route to South
America on a diplomatic mission. A few of the poems in vol. I were penned in
Havana before his death.
These volumes offer his “Composiciones líricas originales” in vol. I and “Composiciones dramáticas originales” in vol. II. The frontispiece is a fine lithographic portrait of Don Ignacio, in Romantic style of course; there is a liberal use of handsome tailpieces. The whole was compiled and edited by the author's brother Antonio.
This first edition is uncommon in our experience as dealers in Mexicana.
Provenance: Masonic stamp, “Porfirio del Rio” on title-page; inscription to fly-leaf of A. Quijano, 1916.
Palau 273981; Sabin 72510. Handsome contemporary quarter red morocco with red mottled paper sides, boards rubbed; spine exuberantly tooled in gilt, bright. Foxing and spotting variously; provenance indications as above. (31961)

Legalese Has Always Been
Joke-Worthy
Ruggle, George. Ignoramus. Comoedia coram rege Iacobo et totius angliae magnatibus per academicos Cantabrigienses habita. Editio quarta, locis sexcentis emendatior. London: Ex officina I[ohn] R[edmayne], 1659. 12mo (13 cm, 5.1"). Frontis., [22], 153, [1] pp.
[SOLD]
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Early, uncommon edition (first printed in 1630) of the tremendously popular Latin-language academic farce that introduced the title's modern English usage. First produced in 1615 in Clare College, Cambridge, the play, which took six hours to perform at its premiere, mocks a foolish lawyer prone to particularly inept use of legal jargon in Latin. The copper-engraved frontispiece here features the protagonist in front of an array of reference books and case documents such as “Proude Buzzard contra Peake Goose.” This is the stated “editio quarta, locis sexcentis emendatior.”
Provenance: Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription of Richard Wattel; back free endpaper with inked note: “H.h Price ex dono Rich. Wattel 17 June 1810.”
Gregg, Bibliography of the English Printed Drama to the Restoration, L8d; ESTC R8556; Wing (rev. ed.) R2214; Sweet & Maxwell 241. Contemporary sheep framed in double blind fillets; rubbed, especially at spine and extremities, with sewing starting to loosen and text block separating from spine, back joint just starting from foot. Frontispiece with small smudge in lower portion (not touching main figure); pages lightly age-toned. (34493)

A Prince, Accused of Heresy & Lust
Russell, John. Don Carlos; or, persecution. A tragedy, in five acts. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, 1822. 8vo (22 cm, 8.7"). xvi, 119, [1] pp.
$175.00
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Based on Schiller's play (which also served as the basis for Verdi's Don Carlos), this tremendously popular piece portrays Don Carlos as a romantic hero brought down by the machinations of both the power-hungry Spanish Inquisition and his tyrannical father, King Philip II. This is the second edition, following the first of the same year — in fact, the work was so successful that it went through six printings in that year, although contemporary critics were not universally fond of either the text or its actual stage performance. The author, Lord John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, was better known as a reformist politician than as an author, serving twice as Prime Minister. Here he gives a brief overview of the historical circumstances in the preface, although he ruefully admits that “the two main props upon which the following attempt at a play is built, have no solid foundation in history” (p. v): that is to say, the Prince's devoted passion for the Queen (first promised to him, then married to his father), and the malign intervention of the
Inquisition.
Provenance: From the library of Robert L. Sadoff, M.D., sans indicia.
NCBEL, III, 1138; NSTC 2R21229. Contemporary tree calf, covers framed in small floral gilt roll, spine with gilt-stamped red and green leather title and author labels, spine compartments with gilt-stamped floral decorations, board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls; minor rubbing to spine, joints, and extremities. Light foxing.
An interesting piece, in distinguished dress. (39827)

SHAKESPEARE with Contributions from Two Leading Lights
of
English Humanities
Shakespeare, William. Shakespeare's comedy of The merchant of Venice. New York & London: Hodder & Stoughton (pr. by T. & A. Constable), [ca. 1910]. 4to (25.5 cm, 10"). xxxiv, 144 pp.; 36 col. plts.
$375.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Both handsome and eminently readable: One of the most debate-provoking of Shakespeare's comedies, here printed in large and legible type and illustrated with
36 particularly lovely, mounted, color-printed plates by Sir James D. Linton. This is the trade edition, rather than the numbered limited; it opens with Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch's prose retelling of the play's plot.
This example preserves the now-uncommon original publisher's box, with affixed color illustration.
Publisher's cream paper–covered boards with green linen shelfback, front cover with gilt-stamped title and vignette, spine with gilt-stamped title, in original publisher's box as above; box and lid worn with several corners split (now neatly repaired) and edge label chipped; volume with very faint traces of wear to spine extremities, otherwise notably fresh and clean. A beautiful presentation. (36008)
To view a small list entirely dedicated
to SHAKESPEARE click here.

Behind the Scenes: Shaw vs. Chesterton — Postcards Signed by Shaw
Shaw, George Bernard. ALS: Two postcards sent to Richard Mealand. Ayot St Lawrence: 1933. (14.2 x 9.2 cm & 11.3 x 8.8 cm). 2 cards.
$650.00
Click the images for enlargement.
Two handwritten cards from Shaw to Mealand, regarding “this proposed G.B.S. – G.K.C. page.” At the time, Mealand was editor of Nash's Pall Mall Magazine (owned by the National Magazine Company, to which these cards are addressed); G.K.C. was Gilbert Keith Chesterton, famously one of Shaw's favorite philosophical sparring partners and possibly his most beloved enemy. The first card, from 15 May 1933, takes a lightly ridiculing tone in stating that the author cannot possibly interrupt his “serious work” to engage in such commercial business unless paid “an enormous sum” — whatever Mealand is paying Chesterton, to be specific; the second, from 21 June 1933, notes that Shaw's reply to Chesterton has already run long and “too heavy for the occasion,” and suggests his plans for revising it.
Sent from Shaw's home in Ayot St. Lawrence and postmarked in Hertfordshire, both cards are
inscribed in Shaw's distinctive hand and signed with his initials.
Cards crisp and clean, one with pair of staple holes.
Delightful and characteristic Shavian ephemera. (37045)

Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne — Caesar & Cleo
Shaw, George Bernard; George Him, illus. Two plays for Puritans. New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1966. Folio (30.4 cm, 12"). xxxiii, [1], 215, [3] pp.; 14 col. plts. (4 incl. in pagination), illus.
$90.00
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This edition of Two Plays for Puritans by George Bernard Shaw — the two plays being The Devil's Disciple and Caesar and Cleopatra — bears both a long preface by the author and notes written by him for each play.George Him both illustrated and designed the book, and also signed the colophon. The book is heavily illustrated with
a considerable number of black-and-white line-and-wash drawings and 14 full-page color illustrations which were hand-colored by the pochoir process at the studio of Walter Fischer. These drawings are both beautiful and witty. In one color plate, for example, we see a line of picketing Egyptian soldiers carrying placards reading, “Egypt for the Egyptians,” and “Caesar Go Home,” the latter appearing in “Egyptian Hieroglyphs”; in another plate, we are treated to a breathtaking scene of the library at Alexandria being consumed by fire; in yet another drawing, we see an amusing little rendering of Belzanor's description of a seven-armed wife-eating Roman soldier! Him chose a monotype Plantin font for the text which was printed in Bloomfield, Connecticut, at the Sign of the Stone Book.
This is numbered copy 44 of 1500 printed, with the colophon signed by Him. The appropriate Club newsletter is laid in.
Binding: Full bright red “vellum book-cloth” stamped on the front with a double-eagle (one American, one Roman) design in gold, and stamped on the spine in black and gold leaf with a design of a Roman legionary standard bearing the title and the author's initials. The endpapers are “nugget-gold” Tweedweave, and the top edge stained yellow.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by The Limited Editions Club, 381. Binding as above, in the original slipcase covered in “nugget-gold” paper and stamped in black and gold; slipcase showing traces of scuffing to sides. Some finger smudges to front free endpaper.
A fine copy, and a great treat for a Shaw-lover! (39030)

The Rain in Spain (Plus)
Shaw, George Bernard; Clarke Hutton, illus.; Alan Strachan, intro. Pygmalion and Candida. Avon, CT: The Limited Editions Club, 1974. 8vo (29.8 cm, 11.75"). ix, [7], 169, [3] pp.; 8 col. plts., illus.
$75.00
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“One of the most popular of the 'Plays Pleasant' of Shaw's early dramatic period, and . . . the dramatist's first major commercial success in England, written at the height of his
powers” (p. v): Two Shavian classics from the Limited Editions Club, here with an introduction by Alan Strachan. Clarke Hutton illustrated both works with a total of
eight color-printed paintings and many black and white in-text drawings; the volume was designed by John Dreyfus, and printed by the Stinehour Press in Vermont.
This is numbered copy 733 of 2000 printed,
signed by the artist at the colophon. The appropriate Club newsletter is laid in.
Binding: Bound in quarter Irish natural linen with paper-covered sides bearing portraits of Eliza and Candida; the burgundy leather spine label is stamped in pure gold leaf.
Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 478. Binding as above, minor rubbing to linen. In original brown paper–covered slipcase with tan paper spine label printed in brown; small bump to one case corner, very slight rubbing to edges.
A crisp, bright copy. (39041)

English REFORMATION Satire
Printed in the 19th Century ON VELLUM
[Shepherd, Luke, fl.1548]. [drop-title] John Bon and mast person. [London]: [colophon: J. Smeeton, Printer], n.d. [1807 or 1808]. Small 4to (27 cm; 10.5"). [5] ff.
$1950.00
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One of either 12 or 25 copies printed on vellum (as per Alston in the former case, as per Oxford cataloguer and a contemporary note on title-page in the latter). John Bon was originally printed by Daye and Seres in London in 1548 (STC 3258.5) and is here reproduced in letterpress facsimile from a copy formerly owned by Richard Forster
Attributed to Luke Shepherd by Halkett and Laing, this is a satirical poem, a dialogue in verse, on the Eucharist, and could even be seen as a short play. It is printed in gothic (black letter) type with
a large woodcut of a procession of the Eucharist on the title-page.
None of the copies reported to WorldCat, COPAC, or NUC are described as printed on vellum. The copy that Alston found at the British Library is not findable via the BL OPAC.
Provenance: Early 19th-century manuscript ownership on front fly-leaf: “Thomas Briggs Esq., Edgeware Road.” Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Alston, Books Printed on Vellum in the Collections of the British Library, p. 35; Halkett & Laing (2nd ed.), III, p. 192; Halkett & Laing (3rd ed.), J21 (var.) l NSTC, I, S1667. Original dun colored boards with beige linen shelfback; rebacked, and binding discolored. “25 copies Printed on chosen Parchment” written in ink in an early 19th-century hand in lower margin of the title-page. Foxing, heaviest on last three leaves; last page (a publisher's note and colophon) lightly inked and so a little faint.
A nice find for the collector of printing on vellum, letterpress facsimiles, or reprints of rare 16th-century English tracts. (34699)
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley. A comparative statement of the two bills, for the better government of the British possessions in India, brought into Parliament by Mr. Fox and Mr. Pitt...second edition. London: J. Debrett, 1788. 4to (28.5 cm, 11.25"). 39, [1 (blank)] pp.
$800.00
Second edition. Sheridan entered Parliament in 1780, crowning his previous career as a successful playwright and theatre manager with a long and distinguished record of public service. He originally read the main portion of this statement before the House of Commons as part of the debate, after noticing that the gentlemen discussing the two bills in question appeared not to have paid “any very minute degree of attention” (p. 6) to the details of either one.
The texts of both bills are present here, along with Sheridan’s analysis of how each would address “the question of right between the public and the [East India] Company” (p. 39).
ESTC T30944; Goldsmiths’-Kress no. 13610. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with gilt-stamped leather title label and spine with gilt-stamped leather author label. Half-title and several other pages stamped by a now-defunct institution. Pages with edges untrimmed and a few small spots of staining; mostly, clean. (10859)

“A Glass of Fashion to the
Beau Monde”
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley. The school for scandal. Stratford-upon-Avon: Shakespeare Head Press, 1930. Folio (29.2 cm, 11.5"). xxvii, [1], 145, [1] pp.; illus.
$125.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Handsome edition of Sheridan's famed comedy of manners, decorated and illustrated with wittily pointed drawings by Thomas Lowinsky. R. Crompton Rhodes's lengthy,
informative introduction offers much background detail on the play's original costuming, language, stage business, etc.
This is
one of 475 copies on Batchelor's handmade Kelmscott paper; an additional seven were printed on vellum.
Publisher's half vellum with printed paper sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; dust jacket lacking as now seen with most copies, vellum dust-soiled with a little rubbing, paper slightly darkened and with two small chips., small chip to paper at bottom edge of front cover and one to lower outer corner of back cover. Internally clean and crisp.
Enjoyable. (34010)

Eight Comedias sueltas by
Antonio de Solis
Solis [y Ribadeneyra], Antonio de. Sammelband of 9 plays. [Valencia, Barcelona, Madrid: Various publishers, 1763–98]. 4to (21.1 cm, 8.3"). Various paginations.
$1200.00
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Antonio de Solis was a dramatist and historian whose Historia de la conquista de México, población y progresos de la América septentrional, conocida por el nombre de Nueva España remains a prose classic.
He is known to have written only ten plays: Eight are present here.
[drop-title] Comedia famosa. El doctor Carlino. [colophon: Barcelona: En la oficina de Pablo Nadal, 1798]. 4to (21.1 cm, 8.3"). 32 pp. “Num. 60" in the upper left corner of the first page.
[drop-title] Comedia famosa. Un bobo hace ciento. [colophon: Valencia: en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1763]. 32 pp. “N.60" in upper left corner of the first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.
[drop-title] Comedia famosa. Las Amazonas de escitia. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1764]. 32 pp. “N.68" in upper left corner of the first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.
[drop-title] Comedia famosa. Amparar al enemigo. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1765]. 32 pp. “N.85" in upper left corner of the first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.
[drop-title] Comedia famosa. El alcazar del secreto. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1765]. 32 pp. “N.86" in upper left corner of first page, and “Pag. I” in upper right.
[drop-title] Comedia famosa. Erudice y Orfeo. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1765]. 32 pp. “N. 89" in upper left corner of first page, and “Pag. I” in upper right.
[drop-title] Comedia. El amor al uso. [colophon: Madrid: en la Libreria de Quiroga, 1799]. 32 pp. “I” in upper right corner of first page.
[drop-title] Comedia famosa. El mayor triunfo de Julio César, y batalla de Farsalia. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de la Viuda de Joseph de Orga, 1770]. 36 pp. “N.162" in uppper left corner of first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.
The Spanish National Library attributes this title to Francisco de Alsedo Herrera, not Solis.
[drop-title] Comedia famosa. La gitanilla de Madrid. [colophon: Valencia, en la Imprenta de Joseph, y Thomàs de Orga, 1780]. 32 pp. “N.232" in upper left corner of first page and “Pag. I” in upper right.
Binding: Full dark caramel calf single-ruled in gilt around blind-ruled border, gilt board edges and blind-patterned turn-ins, spine gilt extra with two black spine labels lettered in gilt. Marbled endpapers and brown speckled edges, green ribbon place holder.
Provenance: 19th-century bookplate of Robert Henry Clive on rear pastedown.
On the comedias sueltas, see: Bergman & Szmuk, Comedias Sueltas; McKnight & Jones, Catalogue of Comedias Sueltas; Sullivan & Bershas, Comedias Sueltas. Bound as above; extremities rubbed with loss to gilt on board edges, joints starting but volume strong, boards with a few stains and scratches. Sticker on front free endpaper. Gentle age-toning and occasional cases of foxing, most noticeable in El amor al uso, otherwise
clean and crisp. (30950)
If you are interested in Comedias Sueltas,
Search here using the keyword,

SUELTAS.

A Full CENTURY of SPANISH
POPULAR THEATER
(Spanish Popular Theater Collection, 18281927). A collection of 316 plays. Madrid, Barcelona, & elsewhere: Various publishers, 1828–1927. Mostly small 8vo. Bound in 43 volumes.
$8250.00
Click the images for enlargement.
In these 43 sammelbande are plays by Hartzenbusch, Rodriguez Rubi, Breton de los Herreros, Lopez de Ayala, Garcia Gutierrez, Echegaray, Zorrilla, Eguilaz, Gil de Zarate, and many others.
One play was expressly written for the actress María Ana de Jesús Guerrero Torija.
Three of the plays are presentation copies from the playwrights.
Evidence of Readership: Six plays are marked up either as prompt or acting copies or by very interested readers.
A list of the collection is available.
All volumes are in good condition, except one which has waterstaining throughout. Texts sometimes have foxing or stains. Ten plays lack title-leaves. Such condition problems have been taken into account in establishing the price. (36083)
Sudermann, Hermann; Edith Wharton, trans. The joy of living (Es Lebe das Leben) a play in five acts. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1902. 8vo (19 cm, 7.7"). vii, [1], 185, [1 (blank)] pp.
$150.00
First edition, translated from the German by Edith Wharton: Sudermann’s play is about love, politics, and morality. It is not difficult to imagine Wharton’s attraction to this piece, in which one of the final lines uttered by the intelligent, sensitive, unhappily married heroine is “We are all expected to sacrifice our personal happiness to the welfare of the race!”
Garrison A7.1.a. Publisher’s olive paper–covered boards, front cover and spine stamped in gold; lacking the now seldom-seen dustwrapper, spine very slightly darkened, extremities showing touches of wear. Top edge gilt. Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated 1903. Pages clean. A good-looking copy. (15733)
For TRANSLATIONS, click here.

Tasso's Masterpiece, with a
Dellacruscan Scholar's Take
Tasso, Torquata. Aminta: Favola boscareccia ... con le annotazioni d'Egidio Menagio accademico della Crusca. Venezia: Gio. Battista Pasquali, 1736. 8vo (18.8 cm, 7.4"). xlii, [2], 387, [1] pp.
$350.00
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Tasso's best-known work, accompanied by Ménage's analysis. Gilles Ménage (Italianized as “Menagio”) was a French man of letters, salonnier, and member of the influential Accademia della Crusca. Here, he supplies scene-by-scene commentary on the hugely successful pastoral, with extensive annotations incorporating significant quotations in Greek, Latin, and French — and even a (very) few words of Arabic and Hebrew.
This is
the first Venetian edition: “accresciuta & migliorata” from the first Parisian edition of 1655, and in a handsomely accomplished printing. The title-page is printed in black and red, with Pasquali's “La felicità delle lettere” printer's mark, and each section is decorated with head- and tailpieces.
This ed. not in Brunet. Contemporary vellum-covered boards, spine with delightful hand-inked title and
ship and whale silhouettes; extremities rubbed, one corner bumped, spine with small chip affecting one word of title. All edges sprinkled red. Front pastedown with the Haverford College institutional bookplate (properly deaccessioned in 2017 with rubber-stamp marking) and adhered traces of now-absent bookplate, title-page and one other pressure-stamped. A very few instances of light spotting and one pencilled annotation in Italian, pages otherwise clean.
An engaging copy. (38979)

Tennyson Juvenilia from
the Chaucer Press, Bungay
Tennyson, Alfred. The devil and the lady. London: Macmillan & Co., 1930. 8vo. Frontis., xv, [1], 67, [3] pp.
$35.00
Click the images for enlargement.
First
edition of this
verse comedy written by the poet at the age of 14, edited
by his grandson. 1500 copies were printed by R. Clay & Sons at the Chaucer
Press, Bungay, on “Whitman hand-made paper”; an attractive label
inside the back cover indicates that this copy was acquired (and/or the edition
was distributed) by way of “The Times Book Club, 42 Wigmore Street, London,
W.1.”
Binding:
Publisher's quarter parchment over handsome, textured, swirl-printed tan paper;
spine with gilt-stamped author and title. Edges uncut.
Bound as above; corners bumped, spine darkened and rubbed, joints
also rubbed. Title-page with small paper adhesion, one other page with light
smudge, a little light dust-soiling along the uncut lower edges, otherwise
clean. (29724)
For COLLECTED PRESSES TYPOGRAPHY, click here.

Only the Second Known Copy?
Waterville College. Bell-a! Horrid-a bell-a! Inaugural ceremonies at the coronation of John Tupper Champlin. [Maine?]: No publisher/printer, 1853. 8vo (23 cm; 9") 4 pp.
$425.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
College wit and humor delivered to the not unsuspecting audience on Wednesday, April 6th, 1853. “The performance will commence with a grand review of all the available force of the institution, under the immediate inspection of the emperor. At precisely 7 o'clock the rabble will move in the following order.”
The caption title reads: “Smith, with a copy of the 'Fugitive Slave Law,' eagerly inquiring the way to Canada.” The text printed within a wavy border.
WorldCat locates only the copy at the Library Company of Philadelphia, this being its deaccessioned duplicate.
Old folds, dust-soiled, other stains. Evidence of old stitching. A decent copy of a rarity. (38404)
Still
the
Sole
Collected Edition
Wycherley,
William. The complete works...edited by Montague Summers. Soho:
Nonesuch Press, 1924. 4 vols. 8vo (26.5 cm, 10.4"). I: xiv, 269, [1 (blank)] pp.
II: [6], 323, [1 (blank)] pp. III: [6], 299, [1 (blank)] pp. IV: [6], 281, [1
(blank)] pp.
$250.00
Nonesuch Press limited-edition production of the only collected
edition of Wycherley. 975 sets were produced, this example being number 99 of
900 on mould-made paper with the Nonesuch watermark. Present here are Wycherley’s
letters and miscellaneous poems, as well as his cynical and often-licentious
plays.
Provenance: With laid-in invoice from the Davenant Bookshop in Oxford,
dated 1924.
McKittrick/Rendall/Dreyfus 17. Publisher’s quarter brown
buckram over tan paper- covered sides, spines with printed paper labels; gently
worn, two labels chipped, one volume with cloth of a darker shade and noticeable
rippling thereto. Two volumes with hinges slightly tender. Page edges untrimmed,
some signatures uncut. It should be remarked that, by some unexpected trick
of the camera, our righthand picture above makes this set look a bit smarter
than it is; that said, though it is rightly priced for its real condition
and still worthy of purchase.
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