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A Lecture on Heads, by Geo. Alex. Stevens, To Which is Added An Essay on Satire, Embellished with Forty-Five Heads, Illustrative of the Subject. Baltimore [MD]: F. Lucas Jr., 1820, 128 p, original binding measures 4.25 x 6.5 , 18mo. In poor condition. As is. BINDING IS BROKEN - each signature is loose. Paper covered boards are scuffed at edges and worn/bumped at corners. Top corners of both boards exhibit water or tea dampness staining - dampness staining through text-block. Head and tail of spine lacking. Old-hand ownership signature on top edge of front end-page: "Kirkwood". Toning with age-staining throughout text-block. Binding is broken. Please see photos and ask questions, if any, before purchasing. George Alexander Stevens (1710 1780) was an English actor, playwright, poet, composer and songwriter. He was born in the parish of St. Andrews, in Holborn, a neighbourhood of London. After spending many years as a traveling actor, he performed for the theatre in Covent Garden (now the Royal Opera House). Stevens was most famous in his lifetime for his Lecture on Heads, a satirical "lecture" on heads and fashion, which parodied the popularity of physiognomy. The lecture was first performed in 1764, and became an immediate success; he went on to perform it on tour throughout Great Britain, in Ireland, and in the American colonies at Boston and Philadelphia. He was also known as popular songwriter, especially known for his bawdy drinking-songs and patriotic songs (such as Liberty-Halland & The Briton). Many of both kinds were collected in his Songs, comic and satyrical (1788). Stevens also authored several dramatic pieces for the stage, a novel entitled Tom Fool, and a satire, The Birthday of Folly. He used the pen-name "A Lady", for part of The Female Inquisition. Fielding Lucas Jr. (1781 1854) was an American cartographer, an artist, and a publisher of prominence during the early 19th century. He is known as the earliest successful commercial map publisher in the city of Baltimore. The first of his atlases was published in 1815 17, in which the maps are closely associated with the 1822 edition of Philadelphia atlas by Carey & Lea. RAREA1820BDGN - 12/22 FORN-TUB-0075-BB-2504-HKREV799.
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