LOVE AND A BOTTLE. A COMEDY. As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, By Her Majesty's Servants

London: B. Lintott et al., 1735. Hardcover. copper plate illustrations. 12mo. The sturdy binding of our copy shows some rubbing to the edges, but is otherise clean and tight. A few pages have a light stain; else the contents are clean and tight if a little age-toned. A nice little copy. Each title is an early printing, all bound together in 20th century wine-red cloth with morocco spine label & top edge gilt. Bound with three other comedies by the same author, 'Love and a Bottle' contains an engraved frontispiece, an 'Epistle Dedicatory', Prologue, 93 pages of text and an Epilogue. The other plays are: (1) 'The Constant Couple: or, a Trip to the Jubilee, A Comedy Acted at the Theatre Royal in Drury-Lane, by His Majesty's Servants'. It is dated 1735 and contains a full-page engraved frontispiece, a Dedication, Preface to the Reader, 102 pages of text and an Epilogue. (2) 'Sir Harry Wildair; Being the Sequel of the Trip to the Jubilee', is dated 1735 and contains an engraved frontispiece, an 'Epistle Dedicatory', Prologue, 79 pages of text, and an Epilogue. (3) 'The Beaux Stratagem: A Comedy' is the seventh edition, published in London in 1730, with an engraved frontispiece, an 'advertisement, Prologue, and 91 pages of text. The book concludes with a three pages catalogue of 'Books Printed for Bernard Lintott'. Farquhar (1678-1707) was a dramatist who began his professional career as an actor, but was advised to give up the stage in consequence of accidentally wounding a fellow thespian. He was advised by Robert Wilkes to write a comedy, and produced 'Love and a Bottle' (1699), followed by 'The Constant Couple' (1700), 'Sir Harry Wildair' (1701) and 'The Beaux Strategem' (1707), amongst others (for more on Farquhar, see the DNB and the Cambridge History of English and American Literature, vol. VIII, chapter VI).