The Orphan: or, The Unhappy Marriage. A Tragedy [bound with] The Fair Penitent. A Tragedy. [and with] Mariamne. A Tragedy. [and also with] The Royal Convert. A Tragedy. [and also with] All for Love: Or, the World Well Lost. A Tragedy by [Otway, Thomas]; Rowe, Nicholas; Fenton, [Elihjah]; and Dryden, [John] - 1735

London: Printed for W. Feales...| Printed for Jacob Tonson, 1735. Leather bound. Very good. Duodecimo size, 455 total pp. This collection of dramatic works includes five tragedies by different authors, bound into one volume, each with its own title page; perhaps the best-remembered is "All for Love, Or, the World Well Lost" by English poet and playwright John Dryden (1631-1700). Made England's first ever Poet Laureate, in 1668; Dryden was a prominent writer of the day and popularised many new forms of poetry as the standard, such as the heroic couplet.

The plays bound in this volume offer a creative and diverse view at seventeenth century dramatics, from some of the foremost writers at the time, each representative of the writing style during the English Restoration.

___DESCRIPTION: Full brown leather, decorative and ruled borders blind-embossed on the front and rear boards, the spine with five raised bands, gilt rules, and red leather label with gilt lettering, decorative borders blind-embossed on the edges of the boards, the title pages of each of the five works in red and black, each with an engraved black-and-white frontispiece; duodecimo size (6.75" by 4"), pagination: [1-9] 10-92 [93-96] [1-2] 3-82 [83-86] [1-2] 3-83 [84-86] [1-2] 3-82 [83-86] [1-2] 3-5 [6-25] 200-276. Tasteful prior owner bookplate on the front paste-down endpaper from Stoneleigh Abbey, an estate belonging to the Leigh family, one of the largest landowners in the area, from 1561 to 1990.

___CONDITION: Very good overall, with clean boards, a strong, square text block, and the interior is clean and bright; some rubbing to the head and tail of the spine, to the edges of the boards, and to the corners, and corners are gently bumped, some rubbing along the joints with slight cracking at the top of both front and rear joints and both hinges are slightly cracked (the boards somewhat tender but still solidly attached), light soiling to the endpapers, light off-setting to the title pages from the frontispieces, some pages throughout have light soil marks, but no text is obscured, and there is a prior owner marking, possibly a name, written in pen on the front free endpaper and another marking in pencil on the front paste-down endpaper. Even with its binding faults, still very much a very good condition volume.

___POSTAGE:  International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details.

___Swan's Fine Books is pleased to be a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA and we stand behind every book we sell. Please contact us with any questions you may have, we are here to help.