Love Triumphant; Or Nature Will Prevail A Tragi-Comedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre Royal, By Their Majesties Servants

London: Jacob Tonson, 1694. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Small 4to. Pp. (12); 82; (2). Verso of half-title page features an advertisement for "The Works of Mr. John Dryden in Four Volumes," also published by Tonson. Four-page dedication (to the Earl of Salisbury) follows the title page. Play is complete with only minor foxing throughout. No tears or wormholes, but bottom corner of last leaf shows slight wear. Else Very Good. Bound early 20th C. by Sangorski and Sutcliffe. Binding Fine. The remarkable condition of the interior, devoid of wormholes and egregious foxing, is unusual and is thus worthy of the elegant binding in which it is contained. This is Dryden's final play, which is noted for the inclusion of a song by Congreve. Indeed, Dryden foresook the stage for the purpose of undertaking his translation of Virgil. A contemporary reference to the reception of this play can be found in "The Plays and Poems of Shakespeare," (1790, vol. I pt. II, p. 141)wherein a citation in a letter reveals "it was damned by the universal cry of the town, nemine contradicente but the conceited poet." Despite such criticism, the care taken in the preservation of the copy at hand indicates the importance of the play and Dryden's place in the pantheon of English literature. MACDONALD: "John Dryden A Bibliography of Early Editions and of Drydeniana," 93a; WING: D 2302.