[TWO ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT PLAY SCRIPTS] "WHO'S THE DUPE?": A Farce in Two Acts; and THE GOOD DEED, or The Philanthropic Fairy. With: An original typescript of "Who's the Dupe?"; and two original typescripts of "The Good Deed".

ROBERTSON, W. [Walford] Graham; COWLEY, Hannah:

Edité par [Original manuscripts]., 1930

A propos de cet article

Two manuscript and three typed play scripts by W. Graham Robertson, comprising: 1. Original manuscript play script for "Who's the Dupe?": A Farce in Two Acts by Mrs Cowley. Produced in 1779. Arranged for the Chiddingfold Players by W. Graham Robertson". Folio (33 x 20.5cm). Loose sheets of manuscript black ink text, with stage directions added in red ink and pencil. Robertson's ownership inscription in pencil to the front sheet, "W. Graham Robertson / Sandhills / Witley / Surrey", with additional name "G. Argyll" (likely a member of the production). 50pp. of text to rectos, with numerous facing versos bearing additional notations/stage directions. There is chipping, tears, and wear to the covering sheet, and light scattered foxing to the contents, otherwise the manuscript is in good order. 2. Original manuscript notebook (20.5 x 16.5cm). Contemporary full limp leather. The contents comprising the play script for "The Good Deed, or The Philanthropic Fairy" in ink across 27pp., including a small ink sketch of a young girl to one page, plus 2pp. of related ink and pencil notes, in addition to 18pp. of notes and draft text in ink and pencil relating to "The Binkie Ballads: A Year Book for A Baby, being Songs of the Day, the Dusk and the Dark" at the rear. The binding firm although with the spine lacking, with a portion loosely laid in; the contents remain in good order. 3. Original typescript of "Who's the Dupe?". 26 x 18cm. [2], 59pp. typed sheets bound in contemporary card wrappers with typed title label to the front wrapper. Contemporary name (likely a member of the production) in pencil to the front wrapper "D. Mooring". The wrappers with some creasing; the contents with some occasional light scattered foxing and a few small tears to foot of p.16 are otherwise in very good order. 4. Two original typescripts of "The Good Deed, or The Philanthropic Fairy". 26 x 19.5cm. Contemporary stapled grey paper wrappers. Each comprising [2], 24pp. typed sheets. The wrappers with a little wear to the extremities; the contents with some light occasional foxing are otherwise in very good order. Two original manuscript plays, accompanied by their typed counterparts, by the writer, critic, painter, illustrator and theatrical designer Walford Graham Robertson (1866-1948). A noted figure in the cultural and theatrical sets of fin-de-siècle London, as a young man Robertson was a friend of Oscar Wilde and Edward Burne-Jones, and latterly formed part of the circle around Noel Coward. Predominantly known as an artist, illustrator and author, his best-known works today are his series of striking lino-cut illustrated children's books, as well as his design for the frontispiece and binding of his friend Kenneth Grahame's beloved 'The Wind in the Willows' (1908). He was also a well-regarded playwright, his productions including his successful 'Pinkie and the Fairies', 'Alexander the Great', and the comic opera 'The Fountain of Youth'. Immersed in the arts, he additionally designed costumes for Sarah Bernhardt and Ellen Terry, was twice portrayed by John Singer Sargent, and was an early collector of paintings by Whistler, as well as works by William Blake, leaving his collection of the latter to the Tate Gallery. He lived for much of his later life in the seclusion of the village of Witley in Surrey at his home, 'Sandhills', where he continued to write. The present plays date from this later period, and include his adaptation of Hannah Cowley's late eighteenth-century comedy "Who's the Dupe", which includes a 5pp. prologue by Robertson in the form of an imaginary conversation between Cowley, "the authoress (period 1770)", and Robertson, "the producer (period 1930)", as well as a comedic fairy play, wherein "an elderly villager of almost oppressive respectability" encounters a young fairy and her lady's maid (a red squirrel) in the forest at sunset. Of this latter play, we can locate no published version.

N° de réf. du vendeur 1565

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: [TWO ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT PLAY SCRIPTS] "WHO'S THE DUPE?": A Farce in Two Acts; and THE GOOD DEED, or The Philanthropic Fairy. With: An original typescript of "Who's the Dupe?"; and two original typescripts of "The Good Deed".
• Éditeur: [Original manuscripts].
• Date de parution: 1930
• Reliure: Couverture souple