The Dramatick Works of . Containing the following Comedies, viz, The Funeral; or Grief A-la-Mode. The Tender Husband; or, The Accomplish'd Fools. The Lying Lovers; or, The Lady's Friendship.

Steele, Richard

About this Item

Printed for J[acob] T[onson], London, 1723, first thus; 12mo, pp [xxii], 250 plus Epilogue and list of books printed for Bernard Lintot. Although the pagination is continuous each play has its own title page as follow: The Funeral, Printed for J Tonson, 1723; The Tender Husband, Printed for J Tonson, 1723; The Lying Lover, Printed for B Lintot, 1723, 4th edition. Apart from a frontispiece portrait of Steele, usually present but not here, the work is complete. The condition, however, is very odd and difficult to describe. Many of the pages are stained to some degree such that at first glance the fore edges appear to have been burnt in a lacy pattern and then repaired with such skill that any join between old and new is impossible to detect whether visually or by feel; further, although the pages tend to be soft on account of their age and perhaps inadequate sizing the only place where there's any cracking of the fore edge at all is in a small section near the end where the deep brown staining occurs in a thin fore edge strip. It seems likely, therefore, that the apparent damage isn't physically to the actual fabric of the pages but has occurred as a result of contact with some fluid in the considerable past. There's an ownership name "Chas. D Inglis Marlborough Malta June 1860" on the front fly and this is transcribed on the front inner board by a later hand with the addition "R N" and an indecipherable rank. The later binding, which retains the original marbled free end papers, and may have been as a consequence of the supposed incident with the mysterious fluid, is perhaps appropriate to the style of the plays in being well described as "comedic", a triumph of basic functionality over style and consisting of two cloth covered slate-coloured boards and a spine consisting of a slab of maroon morocco glued on with the intention that it should never work loose. See the relevant photograph for some detail and by all means ask for more information on what may properly enough be called an interesting and unique copy and one which, with attention to cleaning and rebinding, could result in a decent copy. Seller Inventory # 000529

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Dramatick Works of . Containing the ...

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Poor