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The Dramatic Works of Molière (1880 Complete 3 Volume Set) From the Title Page: "The Dramatic Works of Molière, Rendered Into English By Henri Van Laun. A New Edition Revised with a Prefatory Memoir, Introductory Notices, and Notes. Illustrated With Nineteen Engravings on Steel from the Paintings and Designs by Horace Vernet, Desenne, Johannot, and Hersent. Complete in Three Volumes. 1880." Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622-1673), known as Molière, was the most famous actor and playwright in the French language, just as Shakespeare is in English language. Molière's work, some thirty comedies in verse or prose, accompanied (or not) by ballet entrances and music, is one of the pillars of literary education in France. It continues to be a great success in France and throughout the world and remains one of the universal references of western thespian literature. Henri van Laun (1820?1896) was a writer, translator and teacher of French. Born in the Netherlands and educated in France, he lived most of his life in England. His translation of Molière from the original French provided the most modern version possible for this 1880 publication. Each of the 3 volumes has 11 plays or dramatic readings, at least 6 illustration plates with glassine protection bound in place, and tables of content as appropriate. Each volume page-numbered separately. Each volume has the distinctive signature of "Gertrude Zelle" on front paste-down, for whom we could verify no biographic information. For sale are 3 hardcover volumes which comprise the total lifetime dramatic works of Molière as given in this 1880 Worthington Edition. The volumes were produced to resemble each other in size, color, and decoration so as to present a pleasing shelf appearance. Overall condition: Near Fine/(As New). Hardcovers have red cloth boards with paper labels on spine identifying salient features of this edition as well as volume number. No dust jackets nor slip-case. Labels are browning with age; I & II have complete labels but III has lost a strip from the lower front-facing corner of its' label. Interiors are tight, clean, and have no marks except for the signature cited above. Not all of the pages have been separated in any volume. Contents uniformly distributed between volumes as described above. Vol. I has 551 pages, Vol. II 587 pages and Vol. III 635 pages for a total of 1,773 pages. No copyrights asserted. 1880 print date implied from date on title page. Obviously, no CIP, ISBN, LCCN nor MSR. Thanks for looking!
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