< Back

Garrick David; Centlivre, Susanna; Dryden, John; Fielding, John et al.
HOLD (Sa) The New English Theatre [...] Containing the Most Valuable Plays which have been Acted on the London Stage.
Publisher: T. Lowndes et al., London;
Date of Publication: 1776
Stock Code: 15216
Duodecimos. 60 imprints in 12 volumes complete. Each play has an etched and engraved frontispiece showing a contemporary actor in performance. Each volume has an etched and engraved frontispiece (vol. 1’s is additional, all other volumes transpose the frontispiece from the first play) and an etched and engraved title-page listing the plays and playwrights within. Uniformly bound in contemporary full calf; spines on five raised bands; titled in gilt to red morocco spine labels; star and crescent rolls in gilt to compartments; rolls in gilt to edges of boards; marbled end-papers. Armourial bookplate of one ‘Penry Williams’ to front paste-down of each volume. The contents of the 12 volumes are as follows (all are collated and complete, although some terminal blanks may have been transposed in the binding up process): (1) Centlivre, Susanna. The Busy-Body. Pp., 71, [1]; Centlivre, Susanna. A Bold Stroke for a Wife. Pp., 71, [1]; Steele, Richard. The Concious Lovers. Pp., 82, [2]; Fielding, Henry. The Miser. Pp., 81, [1]; Hoadly, Benjamin. The Suspicious Husband. Pp., 71, [1]. (2) Otway, Thomas. The Orphan. Pp., 71, [1]; Rowe, Nicholas. The Fair Penitent. Pp., 62, [2]; Thomson, James. Tancred and Sigismunda. Pp., 75, [1]; Smith, Edmund. Phaedra and Hippolitus. Pp., 70, [2]; Young, Edward. The Revenge. Pp., 63, [1]. (3) Dryden, John. The Spanish Fryar. Pp., 88, [2]; Congreve, William. The Old Bachelor. Pp., 80, [2]; Beaumont, Francis and Fletcher, John. Rule a Wife and Have a Wife. Pp., 74, [2]; Farquar, George. The Recruiting Office. Pp., 87, [1]; Vanburgh, John. The Provok’d Wife. Pp., 93, [1]. (4) Hill, Aaron. Merope. Pp., 62, [2]; Rowe, Nicholas. Jane Shore. Pp., 62, [2]; Congreve, William. The Mourning Bride. Pp., 67, [1]; Lee, Nathaniel. The Rival Queens. Pp., 56, [2]; Moore, Edward. The Gamester. Pp., 69, [1]. (5) Congreve, William. The Way of the World. Pp., 84, [2]; Howard, Robert. The Committee. Pp., 89, [1]; Johnson, Ben. Every Man in his Humour. Pp., 101, [1]. Farquhar, George. The Beaux Stratagem. Pp., 84; Congreve, William. Love for Love. Pp., 95, [1]. (6) Southern, Thomas. Oroonoko. Pp., 83, [1]; Lillo, George. The London Merchant. Pp., 58, [2]. Otway, Thomas. Venice Preserv’d. Pp., 74, [2]; Rowe, Nicholas. Tamerlane. Pp., 70; Philips, Ambrose. The Disrest Mother. Pp., 55, [5]. (7) Vanburgh, John and Cibber, Colley. The Provok’d Husband. Pp., 105, [1]. Addison, Joseph. The Drummer; or, the Haunted House. Pp., 63, [1]; Cibber, Colley. Love Makes a Man. Pp., 78, [2]; Cibber, Colley. The Careless Husband. Pp., 83, [1]; Steele, Richard. The Funeral. Pp., 71, [1]. (8) Jones, Henry. The Earl of Essex. Pp., 51, [1]; [Brown, John]. Barbarossa. Pp., 57, [1]; Dryden, John. All For Love. Pp., 75, [1]; [Miller, James]. Mahomet the Impostor. Pp., 57, [1]; Rowe, Nicholas. The Tragedy of the Lady Jane Gray. Pp., 63, [1] (9) Dryden, John; Woodward, Henry. Amphitryon. Pp., 76; Congreve, William. The Double Dealer. Pp., 77, [3]; Cibber, Colley. The Double Gallant. Pp., 69, [1]; Farquhar, George. The Inconstant. Pp., 67, [5]; Farquhar, George. The Constant Couple. Pp., 79, [1]. (10) Addison, Joseph. Cato. Pp., 68, [4]. Lee, Nathaniel. Theodosius. Pp., 70, [2]; Hughes, John. The Siege of Damascus. Pp., 67, [1]; Home, John. Douglas. Pp., 57, [2]; Hill, Aaron. The Tragedy of Zara. Pp., 61, [3]. (11) Vanburgh, John. The City Wives Confederacy. Pp., 76, [2]; Foote, Samuel. The Minor. Pp., 55, [1]; Wycherley, William and Garrick, David. The Country Wife. Pp., 69, [1]; Garrick, David. The Chances. Pp., 70; Centlivre, Susanna. The Wonder!. Pp., 72. (12) Glover, Richard. Medea. Pp., 57, [1]; Young, Edward. The Brothers; Pp., 67, [1]. Southerne, Thomas and Garrick, David. Isaeblla. Pp., 57, [1]; Murphy, Arthur. The Grecian Daughter. Pp., 64, [2]; Whitehead, William. The Roman Father. Pp., 58. Rubbing to edges of boards, spines spine labels largely absent; soiling to upper board of vol. 1; one gathering of vol. 11 cracked, bindings otherwise strong and square. Offsetting from plates to some title-pages; very occasional spotting; a few nicks to edges of one volume only, but contents generally clean. A attractive set. An excellent complete set which encapsulates the London stage in the Age of Garrick. The plays within represent the hits of the English stage from the Restoration to the 1770s. Each title-page notes that the text includes notation from the manager and prompter’s books, which provides some insight into the manner in which these plays were actually performed. The 61 frontispieces depict the stars of the London stage in costumed performance. These images of celebrity actors were collectible in their own right, and were published independently from the plays within. Sets with all the frontispieces can be difficult to locate. £825.00