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A New History of the English Stageby FITZGERALD, Percy
London: Tinsley Bors., 1882. First edition. Two octavo volumes extended to four. xii; 158; 159-247, [1]; 282; 283-463, [1] pp. This set is extra-illustrated with 219 portraits and views of theatres, forty-three of which are in color (including four mezzotints) and a large original theatrical playbill from 1857 (contained in rear pocket at the end of the first volume). Sumptuously bound by Bayntun of Bath in full crushed brown levant morocco, covers with triple gilt-ruled borders with gilt arabesques in the corners, gilt-ruled spine bands, spine compartments gilt paneled and lettered, gilt board edges and turn-ins, marbled endpapers and doublures, all edges gilt. An extraordinary copy. While this title is commonly extra-illustrated, this particular copy has been extra-illustrated by a perceptive person of with a love for the actual theater buildings. Usually one finds numerous nineteenth-century portraits of actors of the day and while they are found in this copy as well there are just as many views and architectural plans of theaters. All of the theaters down through time are represented; The Swan, the Globe (in its many incarnations and many with floorplans), Gibbon's Tennis Court (used for Betterton's Company), Theatre Royal, Dukes Theatre, Red Bull Playhouse, Fortune Playhouse, etc. In addition, the plates inserted in this set are from the eighteenth and nineteenth century (as opposed to the 19th and 20th). The color plates are almost exclusively of actors. The broadside (or playbill) is for the Theatre Royal, Adelphi, and measures 29 1/2 x 19 inches. It for the 1857 season (one can date the plays listed on the playbill). In 1858 the theater was replaced by a more up to date building now called New Adelphi and then Royal Adelphi in 1867. The playbill has been in its pocket for decades but retains a fresh appearance (two small tears at fold-lines). "The Adelphi came under the management of Madame Celeste and comedian Ben Webster [both of whom are cited in the playbill offered here], in 1844, and Buckstone was appointed its resident dramatist. Dramatisations of Dickens continued to be performed, including A Christmas Carol; or, Past, Present, and Future opening on February 5th; and Beckett's The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that rang an Old Year out and a New One In. In 1848, The Haunted Man and the GhostÕs Bargain was performed.
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