Playbills, Panoramas, Posters and Programmes: A selection from stock

Playbills, Panoramas, Posters and Programmes A selection from stock

Meridian Rare Books ABA PBFA PO Box 51650, London SE8 4XW, United Kingdom Tel: +44 208 694 2168 Mobile: +44 7912 409821 Email: info@meridianrarebooks.co.uk

1 [Siberia. Playbill.] Mr. Emery’s Fourth Night. This Present Thursday, June 29th, 1809, Their Majesties’ Servants will perform (for the 2nd time) a New Popular Melo-Drama, called The Exile. N.p. [Liverpool], n.d. [1809]. £75 A printed playbill, approx. 20 x 30 cm., minor marginal browning and chipping, else in very good condition.

This playbill, printed for the Theatre Royal, Liverpool, advertises the evening’s main performance of The Exiles (with a second, minor play following called ‘Modern Antiques’). Set to music by Joseph Mazzinghi, the play opens shortly before the coronation of Empress Elizabeth of Russia (1741). It relates the fortunes of Count Ulrick and his family, exiled to Siberia, who eventually gains a pardon from the Empress. The action takes place in the town of Tobolskow in Siberia, and later moves to Moscow. The scenery showed “A Snow Scene, with a Mountainous View of Siberia”, the river “Wolga”, and a Grand Square in Moscow, among others. A procession for the coronation of the Empress included a display of “the Costume of the Inhabitants of Archangel, China, and Tartary”, and a grand finale in Act 3 offered a “Procession and Grandcar drawn by Rein Deer”. According to a contemporary review, “The character of baron Alltradoff seems to have been drawn for the purpose of delineating and ridiculing the prevailing taste for publishing books of travels, tours, &c.” (The Literary Panorama, 1809, p. 508).

2 [Panorama.] Description of a View of Bern, and the High Alps, with the Surrounding Country.

Taken by Henry Aston Barker; and now exhibiting in the great Rotunda of his Panorama, Leicester-Square. London: Printed by J. and C. Adlard, 1821. £675 First edition. 8vo. pp. 12; large folding frontispiece engraving of Bern with key; closed tear to margin of engraving, else very good in contemporary plain wrappers.

NLS Mountaineering Catalogue d088. This uncommon item was a guide to the panorama exhibited at London’s Leicester Square. Barker, who ran the Panorama at this time, based the view of Bern on sketches made on the spot, and the booklet reproduces the entire view in two sections on the large folding plate that forms the frontispiece. The text offers a four-page description of Bern, followed by explanations of the sites and distant mountains shown in the panorama. The final three pages offer a “Description of the High Alps”, with brief paragraphs on twelve peaks that include the Wetterhorn, Schreckhorn, Finsteraarhorn, Eiger, Monch, and the Jungfrau.

3 [Cosmorama.] Cosmorama Panoramic Exhibition, 209, Regent Street. (Five Doors North of Conduit Street.).

Descriptive Catalogue of the Gallery of Europe and America.

London: Printed by A. A. Paris, 1823. £450 First edition. 8vo. pp. 12, later period-style plain wrappers.

Altick, The shows of London, p. 211. The Cosmorama was an indoor version of the old peepshow, using well-executed small oil paintings and mirrors to create the effect of perspective. The first London exhibition opened in 1820 but moved to Regent Street in May 1823 where adequate natural lighting was available. During the first few years, scenes were changed once a month. The present catalogue contains descriptions of seven exhibits, of which the first and longest is devoted to a view of Mont Blanc (pp. 3-5). There follow two descriptions of the Palace of Versailles, one of the Palace of the Sultana Hadidge in Constantinople, "The Passage of the Quindu in the Andes", and two descriptions of the Cordova and its cathedral. This catalogue was issued several times in the 1820s, but we have found no copy of the present version in any institutional holding.

4 [India. Taj Mahal. Panorama.] From the East Indies. Description of the superb model in ivory of the Táj Mahál, the tomb of Moomtaz i Zamanée, at Agra, now exhibiting at No. 5, Haymarket, opposite the Opera House. London: printed by the Philanthropic Society, 1823. £650 First edition. 8vo. pp. 11 inc. half-title; double-page wood-engraved view of the “Tomb at Agra”; slight spotting to plate, else very good in period-style plain wrappers.

Not recorded by Altick in The shows of London. This pamphlet describes the Taj Mahal, with a brief history of its construction. The ivory model seems to have been exhibited by the Philanthropic Society, which also published this description; the Society was founded in 1788 to provide for homeless children.

5 [China. Mixed Playbill.] New Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

This Evening, Tuesday, April 29, 1823, His Majesty’s Servants will act the Musical Drama of Guy Mannering ... to conclude with, for the 22nd Time a superb Spectacle, in Two Acts, called The Chinese Sorcerer; Or the Emperor and his three Sons. J. Tabby, printer, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, [1823]. £95 A printed playbill, approx. 21 x 33 cm., in very good condition.

The Chinese Sorcerer portrays the story of a magician who, foreseeing the seduction of the Emperor’s wife by a pretended friend, hides her away and brings up the Emperor’s three sons as peasants. Once the danger has passed, the sons return to their father in a happy denouement. This playbill offers details of the drama’s characters, as well as its scenery - several scenes were painted by Clarkson Stanfield and David Roberts - showing Chinese palaces, the Grand Harbour of the Imperial City, gardens and pavilions.

6 [Peru. Playbill.] Theatre Royal, Covent-Garden. This present Tuesday, April 22, 1823, will beacted (25th time) the Opera of Maid Marian ... With 20th time, a Splendid Melo-Dramatick Tale of Enchantment (From Incidents in the Peruvian Tales) called The Vision of the Sun; or, the Orphan of Peru. W. Reynolds, 9, Denmark-Court, Strand [London], [1823]. £75 A printed playbill, approx. 19 x 32 cm., printing partyu indistinct, minor staining to lower left corner, soiling to verso, old tape to verso, else VG. The Vision of the Sun combined the production skills of Charles Farley, who wrote the melodrama, with the talents of Thomas Grieve and Charles Pugh, the scenographers. Based on one of Helen Maria Williams’ Peruvian Tales (1823), the play featured a cast in the roles of Inca characters: Huania Copac (King of Cusco), Oultanpac (an enchanter, played by Farley), and Tycobroc (played by the clown Joseph Grimaldi).

Well-received for its theatrical effects, the play featured Greive andPugh’s stunning scenery, amongst which were the Sierras Mountains, ‘The Magic Hall of Oultanpac’, the Pacific Ocean, and the Royal Palace of Peru.

7 [Greece. Playbill.] New Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. This Evening, Saturday June 12, 1824. His Majesty’s Servants will perform the Musical Drama of Guy Mannering . . . To conclude with (forthe Second Time) a new splendid Drama, called, The Revolt of the Greeks; Or the Maid of Athens. J. Tabby, Printed, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane [London], 1824. £75 A printed playbill, approx. 13 x 16" (33 x 41 cm.), printed in two columns, central vertical fold, split almost entirely along central fold, stab marks to central margins where once sewn into a bound volume.

8 [Egypt. Clarkson Stanfield, David Roberts. Mixed playbill.] New Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

This Evening, Thursday, April 29, 1824, His Majesty’s Servants will perform the Opera of The Lord of the Manor ... To conclude with (Tenth Time) a New Grand Egyptian Tale of Enchantment called Zoroaster Or, the Spirit of the Star! J. Tabby, printer, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, [1824]. £250 A printed playbill, approx. 42 x 33 cm., printed in two columns, one section printed in red, central vertical crease where folded, some staining along central fold due to old brown paper repairs to verso, partly affecting text, else good.

W. T. Moncrieff’s Zoroaster was an extravaganza set in Egypt, with music by T. Cooke. However, the play provided a vehicle for the main offering that evening: the “Eidophusicon, or Image of Nature, shewing The Beauties of Nature and Wonders of Art ... in an unprecedented extent of 482 Feet”. This enormous painting,

by Clarkson Stanfield and assistants, showed in a continuous and unrolling format a succession of scenes: The Great Desert with Arab’s Tent; Caravan of Merchants crossing the Desert; The Sphynx & Pyramids; Ruins of the Great Temple of Apollinopolis Magna; Colossus of Rhodes; The Bay of Naples; Mount Vesuvius; the Grand Falls of Tivoli. The Eidophusicon provided an interlude in the play, the remaining scenery for which was painted in the main by David Roberts: Romantic Landscape on the Banks of the Nile; Suburbs of Memphis; Magic Palace of Gebir; Deserts of Upper Egypt; Interior of the Great Pyramid of Chaeops. A few scenes are attributed also to Marinari, and notice is made of the assistance given to all three scenographers by “Hollagan, Andrews, Pitt, Read, Seward, and Adams”. Such was the desire of the theatre management to underline the appeal of the spectacle, that the playbill highlights, in red ink: “Zoroaster; Or, the Spirit of the Star, Continuing to attract crowded Houses, and the magnificent Exhibition of the Eidophusicon, Being nightly received with unabated enthusiasm, the Spectacle

9 [Kotzebue, August von.] Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, This Evening, Thursday, March 18, 1826, His Majesty’s Servants will perform, (For the Second Time), a New Operatic Play, in 3 Acts, under the Title of Benyowsky; or, The Exiles of Kamschatka. J. Tabby, Printer, n.d. [1826]. £125 A printed playbill, approx. 19 x 33, in very good condition.

Kotzebue’s novel Count Benyowsky first appeared in 1794, and was widely translated. B. Thompson’s English translation of 1800 added the subtitle ‘The Conspiracy of Kamtschatka’, and in this adaption for the stage, made by James Kenney in 1826, the subtitle becomes ‘The Exiles of Kamschatka’. The emphasis perhaps had some contemporary resonance, since Kotzebue’s son, Otto von Kotzebue, had in 1815-1818 undertaken his second circumnavigation, visiting Kamchatka and the northwest coast of America. In 1823 he again set off for Kamchatka, continuing on a third circumnavigation. The playbill lists cast, and the scenery, several of which are due to the illustrator David Roberts.

10 [Greece. Playbill.] Royal Coburg Theatre ... Monday, October 5th, 1829, and during the Week, Will be presented, for the First Time, the entirely New Grand Historical Drama and Spectacle of Antiquity, with entirely New Music, Scenery, and Decorations .... Leonidas, King of Sparta! Or the Fight of Thermopylae. T. Romney, Printer, Lambeth, 1829. £125 A printed playbill, approx. 25 x38 cm., in very good condition.

This play incorporates scenery by Mr. Andrew Phillips and others, with images of the Spartan "Senate", the temple of Hercules, a "Mountainous View in Thrace", the Straits of Thermopylae, and "The Gorge of the Defile of Thermopylae". The characters comprised both Greeks (Spartans) and Persians, and the action culminates with the "Total Destruction of the Spartan Band, who all Fall Martyrs to their Country's Freedom". A long prose description following the title offers an overview of the episode during the Persian wars.

11 [Mixed Playbill. Kabul. Napoleon.] Royal Coburg Theatre ... Monday, November 2nd, 1829 . . . Will be Presented, an entirely New Splendid and Interesting Oriental Spetacle . . . The Lion Chief of Cabul! Or the Fiend of the Himalaya Mountains . . . After which, an Interesting Historical Anecdote . . . called, The Exile of St. Helena or the Death of Napoleon Bonaparte. Romney, Printer, Lambeth, [1829]. £125 A printed playbill, approx. 25 x 38 cm., in very good condition.

The playwright H. M. Milner wrote melodramas and popular works for performance at the Royal Coburg Theatre; in 1826 he had dramatised Marh Shelley’s Frankenstein for the theatre. His The Lion King of Cabul, staged in spectacular style, opened with a grand view of “the Range of Himalaya Mountains”, and moved to the gardens of “an Oriental Villa”. In common with such minor theatre, the action was punctuated with ballets and other ‘turns’. The bill also included a scenarios depicting the last days of Napoleon, during which was “exhibited, James Town & Landing Place at St. Helena”, and the interior of Longwood House, Napoleon’s residence on the island. The evening closed with a new “domestic Melo-Drama” called The Wraith of the Lake! Or the Brownie’s Rigg, in which course of which Mrs. Conquest danced a Pas Seul.

12 [Portugal/Napoleon/Hayti. Mixed Playbill.] Royal Coburg Theatre ... Monday, October 19th, 1829, and during the week, will be presented, for the First Time ... Zandodara! Or, The Vengeance of the Redeemed Captive ... an Interesting Historical Anecdote, Called, The Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte; or, The Robber Soldier ... To conclude with ... The Death of Christophe!

King of Hayti ... Romney, Printer, Lambeth, [1829]. £75 A printed playbill, approx. 25 x 38 cm., in very good condition.

Zandodara was based upon a novel by Alicia Palmer, The Sons of Altringham (1811), in which a British visitor to Lisbon is taken prisoner and is freed shortly before his execution. The melodrama featured views of the city and its environs. Second on the bill was an historical piece on Napoleon, in which “the character of its renowned Hero, has been accurately observed and spiritedly delineated”. Last of the evening’s perfomances was a “West-Indian Melo-Drama’, The Death of Christophe! King of Hayti, a play which had been shown as early as 1825 at the Coburg Theatre.

13 [Mutiny at the Nore. Playbill.] Last night but Two. - Theatre, Leeds ... This present Wednesday, Sept. 15th, 1830, will be performed ... the celebrated Nautical Historical Drama The Mutiny at the Nore or, British Sailors in 1797. Leeds: Hernaman and Perring, Printers, Intelligencer-Office, [1830]. £95 A playbill, approx. 7.5 x 13” (19 x 33 cm.), printed to one side only, creased to lower left outside of printed text, else in very good condition.

The mutiny by Royal Navy crews at the Nore, in the Thames Estuary, in May, 1797, protested at the pay and conditions prevalent in the Navy. The mutineers elected a ‘President’, Richard Parker, to present their case. The Sandwich and other ships seized by the mutineers at the Nore attempted to blockade the Thames; Parker ultimately ordered the ships to sail for France when supplies ran low, but at this point most of them abandoned the cause and Parker was convicted of treason, and hanged aboard the Sandwich. A play about the mutiny appeared on the London stage in 1830, and this performance in Leeds followed shortly afterwards.

14 [Stanfield, Clarkson.

Diorama.] Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. This Evening, Tuesday, December 28, 1830, Their Majesties’ Servants will act ... Davy Jones or, Harlequin and Mother Carey’s Chicken . . . The New and Splendid Diorama, designed and painted by Mr. Stanfield ...

The Stupendous and Extraordinary Military Pass of the Simplon .... J. [?] Tabb, printer, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, [1830]. £175 A printed playbill, approx.

42 x 33 cm., printed in two columns, central vertical crease where folded, occasional faults in printing, slight offsetting, chipping to extrems. where extracted from a bound volume, else very good.

Clarkson Stanfield (1793-1867) became the resident scene-painter at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in the 1820s. With David Roberts he developed the moving panorama or diorama, long and high paintings that were unfolded upon large rollers for the entertainment of a theatre audience. In 1830 Stanfield made a tour of Germany and Italy, and on his return he painted two dioramas, including his ‘Military Pass of the Simplon’.

The diorama was shown to the Drury Lane audience as act 14 of the play ‘Davy Jones or, Harlequin and Mother Carey’s Chickens’, and featured 12 scenes showing Alpine and Italian views. Details of Stanfield’s diorama take up almost the entire second column of the playbill, which concludes with a notice about performances of Byron’s Tragedy of Werner; or, The Inheritance.

15 [Napoleon. Playbill.] Theatre Royal, Covent Garden ... This present Tuesday, May 17, 1831, will be acted (2nd time) a New Grand Historical & Military Spectacle, (In Seven Parts) called Napoleon Buonaparte, Captain of Artillery, General and First Consul, Emperor, and Exile.

[London:] W. Reynolds, 9, Denmark Court, Strand, [1831]. £350 A printed playbill, approx. 420 x 350mm., printed to two adjoining sides of a bifolium; minor chipping and soiling to extremities, else very good.

Napoleon Buonaparte was a dramatic spectacle composed by Michael Lacy (1795-1867). Lacy had spent the season 1830-31 in Paris, and may have seen there in January 1831 a performance of Napoleon Bonaparte, ou trente ans dans l’histoire de France, a play by Dumas père. During the late 1820s and early 1830s, Lacy produced adaptions of French and Italian operas for the Drury Lane and Covent Garden theatres. His own Napoleon Buonaparte was conceived on a grand scale: its length of performance meant that nothing else appeared on the same bill, and the scenery, painted by Messrs. Grieve, Finley, and Thorne, carried the spectator from Toulouse to the Alps, on to Vienna, and via scenes of Napoleonic battles to Bonaparte’s final years in St. Helena. The present playbill, detailing the 2nd ever performance for the evening of 17 May, 1831, describes the seven scenes that make up the spectacle, with details of the many actors, and on its second leaf gives a full list of the scenery on view that evening.

16 [Norway. Playbill.] Theatre Royal, Drury Lane ... This Evening, Friday, April 22, 1831 ... To conclude with (13th Time) ... The Ice Witch; or, The Frozen Hand ... J. Tabb, printer, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, [1831]. £45 A printed playbill, approx.

41 x 34 cm., printed in two columns, central vertical crease where folded, VG. The Ice Witch was a light musical comedy taken from a Norwegian saga of the “Scandinavian Sea”. It is advertised on the first column of this playbill after two other plays, “The Scenery painted by Mess.

Andrews, Marinari, Adams, Franklin, and Stanfield”. The second column lists the scenes for the play, and these include “The Scandinavian Sea, with Harold’s Ship beset by the Ice”, and “Ice Rocks”, as well as the Norwegian Coast and the palace of the Ice Witch.

17 [Playbill.] [Robinson Crusoe.] [La Perouse.] TheatreRoyal, Edinburgh. Last Night of the Spectacle of Robinson Crusoe, In consequence of the preparations for the revival of the serious Pantomime of "Perouse". This Present Evening, Friday, January 19, 1838, will be performed .... the Grand Nautical Spectacle of Robinson Crusoe Or the Bold Buccaneers ... N.p. [Edinburgh], n.d. [1838]. £75 A printed playbill, approx. 22 x 28cm., trimmed to all edges.

The main play of the evening's bill was Robinson Crusoe, the action of which was set on Juan Fernandez. The greater part of the information on the playbill describes the action and the scenes of the play. In the closing lines of the playbill, reference is made to a revival of "the Grand Ballet of Action, entitled La Perouse, Or the Desolate Island. With the original Music, and New and appropriate Scenery, Machinery, and other Decorations".

18 [Mixed Playbill. Walpole, Horace. China 1840. Battle of Acre 1840.] Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. Under the Management of Madame Vestris. This Evening, Saturday 9th, January, 1841, (Thirty-First Time), Shakspere's [sic] Midsummer Night’s Dream ... after which (Thirteenth Time), the Grand, Romantic Legendary, Burlesque and Comic Christmas Pantomime, entitled The Castle of Otranto or Harlequin and the Giant Helmet ... The Messrs. Grieve Will have the honor to lay before the Public, Their Views of the most interesting disputable iponts [sic] of The Eastern Question ... Fairbrother Garrick Press, Bow Street [Covent Garden, London], 1847. £175 A printed playbill, approx. 20 x 20" (51 x 51 cm.), printed in two columns, central horizontal fold,creased, some abrasion to text with slight loss of letters, cropped to margins with slight loss to imprint, ex libris inkstamp of Lord Monson, Burton Hall, good.

Horace Walpole's foundational Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto (1764) was dramatised for the stage by J. R. Planché, opening at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, on 26 December, 1840. The pantomimic rendition allowed for considerable latitude in its realisation, and the scenery by Thomas Grieve showed contemporary events emphasising national achievements: the "Opening of the Nelson Monument" refers to the construction of Nelson’s column in Trafalgar Square, London; the scene at St. Helena for the "Removal of the Remains of Napoleon, on board "Belle Poule" Frigate"; the departure of Admiral Elliot for China, with views of "Macao, Chinese War Junks and Snake Boat. Wampoa ... The Island of Pee-Chee ... Canton . . . The British Scaling, & planting the English Flag on the Principal Gate Bay of TchuSan". The scenes neared their close with episodes from the British victory at Acre in 1840.

19 [Borneo. Mixed Playbill.] Royal Olympic Theatre ... This Evening, Wednesday, May 3, and Friday 5th, 1848, will be performed ... An Historical, Military, and Naval Burlesque in One Act, written by William Knight, Esq., entitled A Mission to Borneo; or, The Second Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor ... W. S. Johnson, Nassau Press [London], [1848]. £250 A printed playbill, approx. 50 x 51 cm., printed in two columns, woodcut of a police truncheon to foot of first column in illustration of another play on the bill (“The Special”); central vertical creases where folded, some light browning or soiling, else very good.

This playbill, which also advertises the performance of ‘John Bull’, Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ and an extravaganza ‘The Special’, devotes almost its entire second column to William Knight’s ‘A Mission to Borneo’. The play draws on the voyages of Sindbad, and the action begins in Baghdad, but concludes in Sarawak. The characters include the Caliph of Baghdad, his Grand Vizier, and attendants; Hassan (an Ambassador from Borneo); Haiji Jawin-Vil (“Captain of a Basra brig, despatched on special service to Borneo”); Malays, Britannia, Mungo (A Black Sailor), and “Sambo (a Negro, Servant to Sindbad)”. The scenery, by Messrs. Laidlaw, Cooper and Assistants, includes views in Baghdad and on the Tigris. It seems likely that the play was written to capitalise on the popularity of James Brooke, first raja of Sarawak, who in the 1840s championed British interests in Borneo, resulting in the cession to Britain of the Island of Labuan.

Brooke returned to Britain in October, 1847, where he “was greeted as a hero and lionized by high society (Oxford DNB). In November, 1847, he was made governor of Labuan, and received the KCB in April 1848.

The final two scenes of the play perhaps allude to Brooke’s achievements: scene 10, “near Sarawak in Borneo”, is preceded by “a View near Brooke Green”.

20 [California Gold Rush. Playbill.] Theatre Royal, Edinburgh.

Last Night of the Christmas Pantomime ... Wednesday, January 30, 1850, Will be Performed ... the Celebrated Melo-Drama, in Three Acts, called The Rag Picker of Paris ... To conclude with the New Grand Comic Christmas Pantomime ... entitled Little Boy Blue!!! Or Harlequin & the Goblin Gnome of the Californian Gold Mines! N.p.

[Edinburgh], 1850. £150 A playbill, approx. 9 x 16” (22 x 42 cm.), slightly frayed to extrems. With tape repair at foot on back.

The discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, California, in early 1848 sparked a gold rush that attracted prospectors from North America; by early 1849, people from around the world were travelling to the region. The popular response to the discovery included the pantomime advertised on the present playbill. The culminating drama of an evening's entertainment, the play featured the character “Grizzle, a Miser, a Settler in California”, alongside nursery rhyme characters and other fanciful roles. The scenes included “A Rugged Defile near the Entrance to the Gold Mines”, “Avarice Farm on the Banks of the Rio Sacramento”, and “The Wild and Mountain Pass”.

21 [Byron. Mixed playbill.] Charles Kean. Royal Princess Theatre, Oxford Street .... This Evening, Saturday July 9th, 1853, Will be presented ... (21st Time ...) Lord Byron’s Tragedy of Sardanapalus, King of Assyria. John J. Chapman and Company, [1853]. £250 A printed playbill, approx. 75 x 50cm., printed in three columns, central vertical creases where folded, slight browning of text, line due to printing error in central column, else in very good condition.

Lord Byron’s 1821 play, Sardanapalus, took as its theme the life and death of the last king of Assyria, as presented in the work of the classical author Diodorus. The present playbill, which offered Sardanapalus alongside two comedies, featured “Costume and Architecture ... selected from Layard’s Discoveries of the Monuments of Nineveh”. The first column of the playbill consists of a long ‘preface’ to the play by its manager, Charles Kean, who mentions that in the production “I have availed myself of the wonderful discoveries made within the last few years, by Layard, Botta, and others, on the site of the ancient Nineveh”.

He adds later: “until the present moment, it has been impossible to render Lord Byron’s tragedy of “Sardanapalus” upon the stage with proper dramatic effect, because, until now, we have known nothing of Assyrian architecture and costume.” To this end, the play employed scenery by Mr Grieve, which showed the city of Nineveh and the Tigris, the hall of Nimrod, and the destruction of the city.

22 [Mixed Playbill.] Theatre Royal, Plymouth ... On Monday, Dec. 31st, 1855, Will be presented . . . the Grand Nautical Dom-estic Drama Laid Up In Port or, Sharks along Shore . . . To conclude (Fifth Time) with a new grand Romantic Historical Burlesque, called Whittington and his Cat! Or the Sable King and the Rats of Morocco. Keys, Typ., Plymouth, 1855. £75 A printed playbill, approx. 50 x 38cm., printed to two adjoining sides of a bifolium; central vertical fold, chipping to fold and extrems., else very good.

Thomas Higgie’s play Laid Up In Port first opened on the London stage in 1846; nine years later it was still being played at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth, probably on account of its nautical theme: the action centres on Captain Stockton, ex-Royal Navy now in change of a Merchantman and himself “a man of honour”, his assistants - Voorick from India, Bemba an African, and others - and their meeting with a Mexican Pirate and slaver, Diego Bruno Vilanos, in the Caribbean. The play was followed by the main feature, a Dick Whittington play hinginf on his confrontation with the “Moors” on the north coast of Africa.

23 [Playbill. Pizarro.] Theatre Royal, Drury Lane . . . This Evening, Monday, Sept. 22, Will be presented . . . Sheridan Knowles’ Play of Love . . . After which, First Night of a Novel Sketch . . .

Pizarro (which on this occasion will be converted into) a Spanish Rolla-King Peruvian Drama!

R. S. Francis, Printed, Catherine Street, Strand [London], n.d. [1856]. £175 A printed playbill, approx. 75 x 51cm., printed in three columns, central vertical creases where folded, slight browning of text, splits to folds, somewhat creased, else in good condition.

This large playbill advertises E. T. Smith’s burlesque version of Pizarro, the 1799 play adapted by Richard Brinsley Sheridan from Spanier in Peru by August von Kotzebue. The role of Pizarro was played

by Robert Keeley (1793-1869), one of the great comic actors of the age; his wife took the part of Rolla, one of the Peruvians. The opening column of the playbill prints the humorous back-story of this staging of the play, followed by the usual dramatis personae and list of scenes.

24 [Playing Cards. Mixed Playbill.] Theatre Royal, Plymouth ... On Whit-Monday, May 12th, 1856, Will be presented (second time in Plymouth), the beautiful play, by Sir E. Bulwer Lytton, Author of "The Lady of Lyons," "Richelieu," &c., &c. entitled Woman's Heart or The Outcast: A Tale of the Sea ... Keys, Typ., Plymouth, [1856]. £250 A printed playbill, approx. 50 x 38cm., printed to two adjoining sides of a bifolium, second side printed in red and black; central vertical fold, minor chipping and soiling to extremities, a few ink maginalia, slight age-toning, else very good.

A new version of Edward Bulwer Lytton's 1839 play The Sea-Captain; or, The Birthright, the action of which takes place in Devon. Appearing on the same bill were Brinsley Sheridan's Pizarro; or, The Conquest of Brazil, and a new Burletta, High, Low, Jack, and the Game. Based on a pack of playing cards, this last is advertised in attractively red-and-black printed fonts that incorporate the four suits (clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades). An unusual piece of typography.

25 [Du Chaillu, Paul B.; David Livingstone.] A printed lecture ticket for "Africa Under The Equator" by Paul B. Du Chaillu, with a reading of a "Letter from the Rev. David Livingstone, D. D., Zambesi River, South Africa", at the American Geographical & Statistical Society, Clinton Hall, Astor Place. N. p. [?N.Y.], n.d. [1860]. ÂŁ125 A lecture ticket, approx. 115 x 72mm., printed to one side only, in very good condition.

In 1857, the American Geographical and Statistical Society elected David Livingstone a member. In February 1859 he wrote to the Society, sending them an account of his progress on the Zambesi River expedition.

This letter was read out at a meeting of the Society on 5th January, 1860. The reading was followed by a lecture from Paul du Chaillu, who spoke about his own explorations in Africa and, in particular, his confirmation of the existence of the gorilla. A full transcript of Livingstone's letter, and a notice of du Chaillu's lecture, appeared in the New York Times for the 6th January.

26 [Playbill. Walter Scott.] Royal Strand Theatre . . . On Monday, Jan. 12th, 1863 . . . The Performance will comments at Seven with the Screaming Farce . . . Keep Your Temper . . After which (15th 16th 17th 18th 19th and 20th Times) the Immensely Successful New and Original Burlesque Extravaganza, founded on Sir Walter Scott’s Romance, and entitled Ivanhoe! By Henry J. Byron. [London:] Nassau Steam Press - W. S. Johnson, 60 St. Martin’s Lane, W.C., 1863. £150 A double-column printed handbill, approx. 20 x 20”, creased where folded, minor creasing, otherwise very good.

Byron was a Manchester-born actor, writer and journalist who wrote a large number of plays for the London stage. His burlesque treatment of Scott’s novel Ivanhoe opened on 26 December, 1862; while largely faithful to the original characters and plot, the conclusion paid attention to the Christmas period during which it was staged, ending with a not untypical scenes invoking “England’s Glory”.

27 [Vasco da Gama. Mixed Playbill.] Royal Strand Theatre ... On Monday, December 11, 1865, and During the Week ... will be Produced, an Entirely New and Original Burlesque, by F. C. Burnand, Esq., entitled L’Africaine or, The Queen of the Cannibal Islands! Merser & Gardner, Machine Printers, Kennington Cross, S., [1865]. £125 A printed playbill, approx. 50 x 38 cm., printed in two columns, central vertical creases where folded, a few other minor creases, slight chipping to edges, else very good.

In April 1865, Giacomo Meyerbeer’s grand - and in fact final - opera L’Africaine premiered at the Paris Opéra. Meyerbeer, who died before completing the work, referred to it as “Vasco da Gama”, but it was renamed L’Africaine by François-Joseph Fétis, who brought the work to the stage. The opera depicts events in the life of the explorer Vasco da Gama, with the action set in Lisbon at the end of the 15th century. Later in 1865, the opera received a burlesque treatment by Francis Burnand and Frank Musgrave in L’Africaine or, The Queen of the Cannibal Islands! The comic treatment accorded Meyerbeer’s more sober presentation can be seen in this playbill for the burlesque: it too features “Vasco di Gama, a Navigator, or Navvy, who has crossed the line, in love, first of all with Inez, then with Selika, then with Inez, then with Selika, and finally with Inez”. The play begins in Lisbon, but then moves, via a scene “On Board H.M.S. ‘The Don Quay’”, to the “Anthropophagonian Land” (possibly based on Madagascar).

L’Africaine, in its London burlesque form, proved a success, running for 88 performances.

28 [Mixed Playbill.] The Gaiety Theatre, Strand . . .

Monday, September 13th, 1869 . . . Offenbach’s Operetta of Lischen and Fritzschen . . . the New and Successful Drama . . . Dreams . . . To conclude with an Operatic Incongruity . . . by Alfred Thompson . . .

Linda of Chamouni! Or, Not a “Formosa”. Nassau Steam Press - 60 St. Martin’s Lane, W.C. 1869. £50 A large playbill, approx. 12 x 23”, printed to one side only, creased where folded, frayed with loss to lower left corner (not affecting text), else very good.

Alfred Thompson’s play Linda of Chamouni, which drew on the 1842 opera by Donizetti, Linda di Chamounix, opened at London’s Gaiety Theatre in 1869; set in Switzerland, the scenery included Alpine views.

29 [Panorama.] Dibble Bro’s Mammoth Palace Hall Panorama of the World! N.p. ?Connecticut, n.d. c.

1870s. £95 A large, double-sided daybill advertising the Dibble Brothers’ moving panorama, approx. 28 x 10 1/4” (71 x 26 cm.), printed to both sides within a black border, the verso with text in double-columns, inkstamp for the showing at Academy Hall, New Hartford, CT, Nov. 10, 1875, to upper left of recto, VG. John P. Dibble and his brother Frank H. Dibble, with other family members, toured their panorama in the 1870s, offering their audiences “A Grand Excursion Around the World” in 200 views, captured on “100,000 Square Feet of Canvas”. The verso of this daybill contains an extensive list of the scenes displayed in this two-part show: beginning with the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, the panorama exhibited scenes from US cities and sites of interest such as the “Grand Canon”; a brief excursus to the north, with “Scenes from Dr. Kane’s Arctic Explorations”, gave way to views from Ireland, London, Scotland, and the Eddystone Lighthouse, before moving to the Continent (Alps, Paris, Waterloo Rome, Vesuvius, Venice), Russia, the Mediterranean, the Nile, and the Holy Land, closing with scenes from China (Peking, Shanghai) and Mexico. The spectacle concluded with spectral illusions and magical transformations.

30 [Mixed Playbill. Darwin.] Princess’s Theatre . . . Monday, February 5th, 1872 . . . the New and Original Drama . . . On the Jury . . . After which, will be presented, with Entirely New and Splendid Scenery, Dresses, Machinery and Decorations a Grand Comic Christmas Grotesque Spectacular Pantomime, entitled Harlequin Little Dicky Dilver with his Stick of Silver, or, Pretty Prince Pretty-Boy, and the Three Comical Kings. [London:] W. S. Johnson, Nassau Steam Press, 60 St. Martin’s Lane, W.C., 1872. £125 A double-column printed handbill, approx. 20 x 19 1/2”, creased where folded, very stained and a little worn, slightly frayed to margins.

Edward Leman Blanchard (1820-1889) dominated the pantomime genre on the Victorian stage. Though his name does not appear on this playbill, he wrote the pantomime it advertises - Harlequin Little Dicky Dilver and his Stick of Silver. The performance, which includes two “Grand Ballets” and incorporated “Popular Airs from the Christy Minstrels” (a well-known black-face group of the day), is also notable for the reference to Darwin: one of the scenes is set in “The Court of Lions in the Darwinian Dominions”.

31 [Toy Theatre.] Timour the Tartar, a Grand MeloDrama in Two Acts ... Adapted only for Redington’s Character and Scenes. J. Redington, 208, Hoxton Old Town [London], n.d. c. 1876 [but later?]. £250 Small 8vo. pp. 16; very good in the original printed wrappers (with imprint of, and ads. for, B. Pollock), together with 8 plates of costumes (two laid down on card), and 8 plates of scenes, each approx. 216 x 170mm., each with imprint of J. Redington except Scene no. 6 (imprint of J. K. Green, Walworth), lacking three “Plates of Wings” in generally very good condition.

Timour the Tartar, a play by Matthew “Monk” Lewis with music

by Matthew King, was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, in May 1811. The drama, which featured live horses at its finale, caricatured Napoleon by its depiction of Timour (also known as Tamerlane, or Tamburlaine), a man of low birth who rose to lead an empire. The present version of the play, accompanied by sheets of characters and scenes, was published for the toy theatre market. Purchasers were able to choose the sheets, colour them, and mount them on card ready for domestic performance. The portraits and scenes depicted on these sheets were generally taken from stage versions, so that these juvenile theatre plates can often offer representations of actual stagings. Redington, a publisher of toy theatre material, died in 1876, and his business was taken over by his son-in-law Benjamin Pollock. The plates in this set are probably due to Redington (i.e. pre-1876), but the booklet may derive from a later period after Pollock had taken over the firm.

32 [Tennyson, Alfred Lord.] Programme for Tennyson’s one act play ‘The Falcon’ at St. James’s Theatre, King Street, London, 1880. Printed by J. Miles & Co., Wardour Street W., [1880]. £10 8vo. pp. [4], in very good condition, pencilled date “31/1/1880”.

Tennyson’s ‘The Falcon’ was a one act play based on the Decameron, and it opened at the St. James’s Theatre in December 1879 under the management of John Hare and W. H. Kendal. The theatre later gained notoriety for staging Oscar Wilde’s plays, particularly The Important of Being Earnest (1895).

33 [Broadside. Anglo-Egyptian War.] For One Night Only Mr. Hoyle ... has pleasure in announcing that he will give his Historical and Geographical Lecture ... Entitled The War in Egypt and the Sudan illustrated by Steward’s Photogenic Lantern. A. Whitham, printer, New Street, Barnsley, n.d. c. 1890s. £95 A large broadside, approx. 16 x 76cm., printed to one side only, some browning and age-toning, but still in good condition.

This fragile ephemeral item advertises the lecture by Eli Hoyle, identified on the broadside itself as the author of the “Popular History of Barnsley” (presumably a reference to one his books about the town, one of which, The History of Barnsley Old Church, was printed by the same printer as the broadside - A. Whitham - in Barnsley, 1891). The date of the lecture has not been completed, and it is not clear whether it ever took place.

The lecturer proposed to illustrate the history of the British military intervention in Egypt and the Sudan, from the bombardment of Alexandria and the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, to the death of Gordon at Khartoum. The broadside lists many of the scenes to be used for the lecture, which was to be given in three parts: a first devoted to Egypt, a second with images of unrelated statuary, and a third illustrating a tour on the Rhine.

According to the information given, the programme was scheduled to last 2 hours.

34 Renton, Herbert Stanley. Herbert Stanley Renton’s Brilliantly Illuminated Stories I. A Day and Night in a Volcano. II. Adventures in the Sandwich Islands. New York: Star Lyceum Bureau, n.d. c. 1891. £65 A small 8vo gatefold pamphlet advertising Renton’s lectures, 6pp., port. of Renton to upper wrapper, minor creasing, else very good in self-wrappers.

Renton’s Stereopticon was a form of magic lantern that provided images to accompany his lectures. This flyer, issued by his agent, details the lectures he have about Hawaii, based on his experiences on and knowledges of the islands.

35 [China. Henry Lee.] Sunday Evenings for the People. Shoreditch Town Hall. Sunday, November 4th, 1894, at 7 p.m. ... Lecture by Mr. Henry Lee, on “Through China to Pekin,” (With Oxy-Hydrogen Lantern Illustrations). By permission of Prioprietors of Illustrated London News, from photographs and sketches made by Mr. Julius M. Price, Special Artist. Printed by Vail & Co. (Society House), 170, Farringdon Road, W. C., [1894]. £20 A programme for the National Sunday League, 8vo (approx. 185 x 230mm), 4pp.; creased where some time folded, previous owner’s inscription to first page, small pinhole to second leaf, generally good condition in self-wrappers.

This programme advertises the lecture on China by Henry Lee and a programme of music offered by the National Sunday League (established 1855) - which aimed to promote “Intellectual and Elevating Recreation on that day”. Details of Lee’s lecture appear on the first page, followed by two pages of the music programme with words, and lectures scheduled for various venues on the following Sunday are printed on the last page.

36 [Klondike. Broadside.] All About Alaska and the Klondike Gold Fields.

A Grand Illustrated Klondike Lecture Entertainment. Chicago: Sears, Roebuck & Co., n.d. c. 1898. £275 A broadside, approx. 14 x 54”, printed to one side only, central illustration of a prospector panning forgold; a few closed tears to margins, else very good.

The 1896 discovery of gold in the Klondike, in north-western Canada’s Yukon territory, prompted a rush of fortune-seekers, and sparked the interest of the wider public. This broadside advertises a lecture with “Magnificent Photographic Views” projected on the magic lantern. The absence of a lecturer’s name, and the blank spaces in the printed matter at the foot for the insertion of the location and price of tickets, suggest that the broadside advertises a touring lecture.

37 [Villiers, Frederic.] St. George’s Hall, Langham Place, W. In consequence of the success of hisprevious Lectures here, Mr. Frederic Villiers (The Famous War Artist and Correspondent) Will repeat his Lecture ‘Khartoum at Last’. N.p. [?London], n.d. c. 1898. £50 A programme for Villiers’ lecture, large 8vo., pp. [4], illusts. to first leaf and portrait of Villiers to p. 2; creased and soiled.

Villiers (1851-1922) was a British war artist and correspondent, working primarily for The Graphic but also for the ILN and other journals. He was present at many important battles of the RussoTurkish War 1877, the Second Afghan War 1878, the AngloEgyptian War of 1882, the Gordon relief expedition 1885, and the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. The programme records Villiers’ lecture on the last of these; a synopsis of the lecture is given in the central pages, and a biography of Villiers appears on the final page.

See also item 41 for another Villiers item.

38 [Browning, Robert; Yeats, W. B.] Special Matinee at Wallack's Theatre . . . Browning's In a Balcony Preceded by The Land of Heart's Desire by W. B. Yeats. N.p. [?New York], 1900. £20 8vo (approx. 130 x 205mm.); pp. [4], printed to inner pages only; original printed wrappers, stapled as issued.

Yeats's one-act play was first staged in 1894 at the Avenue Theatre in a 6week run. This programme seems to relate to the first American performance on October 26, 1900.

39 [Cyclorama.] Cyclorama of Jerusalem on the Day of Crucifixion. N.p., n.d. c. 1900. £125 Thin 8vo. pp. 16; very good in the original printed orange wrappers, stapled, light staining to lowerwrapper.

A souvenir guide to the cyclorama - “the grandest permanent exhibition of the nineteenth century, at Ste-Anne de Beaupre [Quebec, Canada] ... located in the large rotunda on the pier” (cover text). The painting was conceived by Paul Philippoteaux (noted for his Battle of Gettysburg cycloramas) who collected all of the props, accessories, and botanical specimens while in Paris, brought it to Quebec, and hired a corps of artists, including O. D. Glover of Chicago.

40 Hibbert, Henry. A small collection of handbills and broadsides for illustrated lectures by Hibbert given in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, c. 1904-1909. 1905. £300 Together 14 items, various sizes ranging from 5 x 7 1/2” to 11 x 18”, each printed to one side only, printers details at foot of each (Shuttleworth, Printer, Ilkley), one item in duplicate but on different paper stock, Hibbert’s portrait from a photo. on four items, photo. illusts. of Moroccan scenes to relevant handbill; fraying to margins of two items, else in very good condition, with an offprinted “Copy of Article Reprinted from the Preston Co-Operative Record, November, 1908. Councillor Hibbert at Preston. A Fine Lecture and a Mammoth Audience” (1p.).

Hibbert (1862-1924) played an important role in the early development of cinema, working with others to develop a brief film (it showed a girl skipping) that was given its first public showing before the Bradford Photographic Society in March 1896. Hibbert was also involved in the Temperance movement in Bradford, where he acted as a Councillor, and he travelled extensively with Lunn Polytechnic Tours; he became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. From such experiences, Hibbert toured extensively to give lectures, in which he entertained his audiences with “Cinematograph and Lantern Entertainment”.

The present selction of handbills and broadsides advertise Hibbert’s lectures on the Rhine (1904), “Animated Pictures” for children (1905), Iceland (1906), Sweden and Lapland (1908), the Pyrenees (1908), Portugal and the Canary Islands (1909), the Black Forest, the Dolomites, and Morocco (these last three undated).

41 [Villiers, Frederic.] St. Margaret’s Hall, Ilkley . . . Mr. Frederic Villiers (The Famous War Artist and Correspondent . . . ) Will relates his Thrilling Experience with teh Japanese 3rd Imperial Army and with Togo’s Fleet, What I saw of the Fighting between Russia & Japan.

“Looker-On” Printing Works, Cheltenham, 1905. £30 A programme for Villiers’ lecture, large 8vo., pp.

[2], portrait of Villiers to p. 1 and of General Baron Nogi to p. 2; slightly creased.

Villiers (1851-1922) covered the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5 for the ILN. He illustrated his lecture with his own sketches and photographs taken at the front. This programme also advertises Villiers’ book Port Arthur: Three Months with the Besiegers (1905). See also item 37 for another Villiers item.

42 [Goodsell, Dr. J. W.] With Peary on the Dash for the Pole. [Pittsburgh: A. W. McCloy], n.d. c. 1909. £150 A lecture programme, approx. 8 x 11” (205 x 280mm); 4pp.; photo. illusts. and one sketch map, in very good condition with, loosely inserted, a 4pp. leaflet entitled ‘“With Peary in the Dash for the Pole” Biographical Sketch and Comment”.

John W. Goodsell was surgeon aboard the Roosevelt on Peary’s 1908-9 attempt on the North Pole. A resident of New Kensington, PA, Goodsell lectured to the Academy of Science and Art of Pittsburgh in February 1912, and probably gave further lectures on other occasions. These two pieces of ephemera relating to the lectures give details of the expedition, and of Goodsell himself. The inserted leaflet also provides some comment on the Cook-Peary controversy.

43 [Dent, Clinton T.] R. A. Institution. A Lecture will be delivered at 5 p.m. on Thursday, 25th February, 1909, on The Art of Travel in Mountainous Countries, (Illustrated by Lantern Slides).

By Clinton T. Dent, Esq., F.R.C.S. N.p. [?Woolwich], [1909]. £125 A printed notice, approx. 37 x 28cm., printed to one side only, Royal Coat of Arms printed at head with text below; creased where sometime folded, adhesion marks to verso where affixed, else in good condition.

Clinton Thomas Dent (1850-1912), one of the foremost climbers of his day, made the first ascent of the Grande Aiguille du Dru in 1878. He later turned his attention to the Caucasus, where he made the first ascent of Gestola with W. F. Donkin in 1886. The author of two books, Above the Snowline (1885) & Mountaineering (1892), he became Alpine Club President in 1886. The present notice advertises a lantern slide lecture given by him at the Royal Artillery Institution in 1909.

44 [Cook, Frederick A.] Dr. Frederick A. Cook’s Lectures. N.p., n.d. c. 1911. £175 A prospectus advertising Cook’s Lectures for the season 1911-1912, approx. 8 x 11” (205 x 280mm), 4pp.; 4 photo. illusts.; tape marks to left margin of first page where sometime inserted in an album, pinmarks where a document sometime attached (no longer present), else very good.

This prospectus invites bookings for Cook’s lectures on the Arctic, the South Pole, and the ascent of Mt. McKinley. However, its emphasis is on Cook’s Arctic achievements, and the title to the prospectus continues “In which the Arctic explorer tells graphically of his thrilling Arctic experiences; answers, in toto for the first time, the pro-Peary charges against him, and exposes, by sensational evidence, bribery and fraud in the campaign to discredit him.” The greater part of the prospectus consists of a description of Cook’s experiences on his return from the Arctic at the hands of Peary and his supporters. Interspersed with this appear plaudits for Cook from local US newspapers, and claims for support of Cook from Schley, Greely, Amundsen, Sverdrup and other Arctic explorers.

45 Besley, James Campbell. The Captain Besley Expedition From Pacific to Atlantic across Unexplored South America. [The EHA Press, Leyton N.E.], n.d. c. 1914. £95 8vo. pp. 8; illusts. from photos., good in the original printed wrappers with port. of Besley to upper wrapper and sketch map of route to rear wrapper, central horizontal crease where sometime folded, creasing and soiling to wrappers, minor fraying to extremities with tear to lower outer corner of rear wrapper.

James Besley (1874-1954) made his fortune in the gold fields of Australia, the Klondike, and then established himself in Mexico with copper and silver mines. In 1913 he led an expedition to the headwaters of the Amazon in Peru, rafting 4,000 miles to the Atlantic. The expedition discovered three lost Inca cities, the remains of previous explorers, and took the first film of Machu Picchu (discovered two years earlier by Hiram Bingham). The artefacts, photographs and film footage were returned to New York, where they were stolen, and so Besley decided to rerun the entire expedition, setting off in 1914 for the purpose. On his return, with further artefacts and footage, Besley released two films, ‘The Captain Besley Expedition’ (1914) and ‘In the Amazon Jungles with the Captain Besley Expedition’ (1915). This is the programme for the first film, with explanatory text, and illustrations of the expedition members, native indians, and artefacts discovered.

46 Ponting, Herbert G. With Captain Scott in the Antarctic ... and Animal and Bird Life in the South Polar Regions. The Complete Cinematograph Diary of Captain Scott’s Memorable Journey, and Personal Narrative of the Greatest Adventure of Modern Times. [T. Whittingham & Co. Ltd.], n.d. c. 1914. £275 Small 4to. pp. [8]; 5 full-page photo. illusts.; very good in the original pale yellow wrappers, stapled as issued, with photo. illust. of Scott to upper cover, marginal tears to rear wrapper, staples slightly rusted, with, loosely inserted, two sheets, one with text printed to one side only promoting the film, the other a review of the film by Filson Young reprinted from the Pall Mall Gazette for February 25th.

Renard 1235 & 1234. A nicely produced programme to accompany Ponting’s film of Scott’s last expedition, possibly issued by the film distributor, Lloyds Film Agency. The booklet reproduces five of Ponting’s photographs, with a further photograph of Scott on the front cover. Two pages of text offer descriptions of the film, and the loosely inserted sheets carry plaudits for the film.

47 [Thompson, Edward H.] James B. Pond Presents Thompson - of Yucatan ... “America’s Answer to Egypt”. N.p. [?NY], n.d. c. 1920. £125 A publicity brochure, 4to. pp. 4; photo. port. of Thompson to front and rear covers, illusts.; very good in the original self-wrappers.

Thompson, an American archaeologist, spent most of his life in Yucatan exploring and excavating Mayan sites. His discoveries were shipped to US institutions such as the Field Columbian Museum and the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. In 1926 the Mexican Government seized his home in Yucatan, and Thompson leased it to the Carnegie Institute. He returned to the USA, writing and lecturing. The present advertising leaf, issued by the lecture tour promoter James B. Pond, provides details of Thompson’s career and discoveries.

48 [Graham, Stephen.] Town Hall, Durham. Visit of Stephen Graham, Esq. Tuesday, Nov. 15th, 1921 Commencing at 7 p.m. [Bishop Auckland: G. W. Rudd, Ltd., Printers], n.d. [1921]. £45 A lecture pamphlet, approx. 125 x 180mm., 4pp., small portrait of Graham to front, very good, signed by Graham to the front “Durham is part of the imperishable England Stephen Graham”.

This leaflet advertises Graham’s lecture ‘Capital to Capital’, and lists Capitals visited by Graham from 1906- 1921, and also his published works. Graham was best known for his writings on Russia and the Caucasus - his works include A Vagabond in the Caucasus (1911) and Through Russian Central Asia (1916). In 1921 he tramped with the poet Vachel Lindsay through the Rockies into Southern Alberta, returning to England in October shortly before his lecture in Durham.

49 [Dunsterville, Lionel C.] ‘Philharmonic Hall ... A Travel Film on Burma described by Major- General L. Dunsterville C.B., C.S.I., F.R.G.S. (Kipling’s “Stalky”)’. London: Miles, n.d. c. 1922. £40 A small handbill in the form of a postcard, printed with lecture details to one side, double-hemisphere map to verso with details of “Solar Film Expeditions”; small puncture marks where sometime stapled, “Captain Deane” hand-written to recto, else VG. Lionel Dunsterville was a childhood companion of Rudyard Kipling, who based his character Stalky on him in Stalky & Co. (1899). Dunsterville himself served in the First World War, in 1918 leading the so-called Dunsterforce to take the city of Baku on the Caspian Sea. Following the war and his retirement in 1920, Dunsterville engaged in various projects, in 1922 investing money in Solar Films Ltd., apparently the brain child of Sir Percy Sykes. The company engaged in a series of expeditions to different parts of the world, beginning with Burma and Morocco. Dunsterville lectured for the film of Burma at London’s Philharmonic Hall in 1922. This advertising post-card for the film lecture lists on the rear 9 other subjects, including Morocco (lecturer Percy Sykes), and including a proposed Solar expedition to the Antarctic (which presumably was never realised).

50 [Whaling.] World Premiere Elmer Clifton’s “Down To The Sea In Ships”. Olympia, NewBedford, Massachusetts, September 25th, 1922. N.p. [?New Bedford], n.d. [1922]. £20 ?First edition. 8vo. pp. 24; photo. illusts.; small marginal tear to final leaf, else VG in the orig. printed wrappers, soiled.

A programme for the first screening of Clifton’s film about a nineteenth century whaling family. The film contained documentary footage of whalers at work, and the cast included members of the whaling community. The programme contains a 6pp. glossary of terms.

51 [Melba, Dame Nellie.] Farewell Concert of Dame Nellie Melba 1926. Souvenir Programme.

[London: Vail & Sons], 1926. £75 4to. pp. [12]; port. of Dame Nellie Melba; very good in the original printed wrappers with string ties, minor wear, with a loosely inserted 1p. handbill for the HMV gramophone recording made during the perfomance.

Dame Nellie Melba, the operatic soprano, made her final perfomance at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Friday June 25th, 1926, with Henry Wood as conductor. She went on to give several similar perfomances in Australia,culminating in her 1927 ‘Empire Broadcast from Sydney. This is the official programme for her final London performance.

52 Treatt, Major C. Court and Mrs. Court. “Cape to Cairo”. The film record of a historic motor journey ... Polytechnic Cinema Theatre, Regent Street, W. [London: Vail & Co.], n.d. [1926].£275 4to. pp. 20; photo. illusts.; very good in self-wrappers, slightly soiled, with, loosely inserted, a postcard showing the Court Treatt’s in front of one of their vehicles, captioned “The Court Treatt Cape to Cairo Motor Expedition” and signed by them in the negative, fine and postally unused.

The Court Treatt expedition was the first successful motor expedition to negotiate the Cape to Cairo road. Using two Crossley light trucks, the couple and their team left Cape Town 23 September 1924, reaching Cairo 24 January 1926. A film record of the journey was made by the Canadian T. A. Glover, who had also filmed Angus Buchanan’s crossing of the Sahara. The present programme was issued for a screening of the film at the Polytechnic Cinema Theatre in London, and presumably postcards with images from the expedition were also on sale.

53 [Cobham, Alan J.] James B. Pond presents Alan J. Cobham Britain’s Greatest Aviator Telling the Story of the First Flight from the Cape to Cairo. N.p. [?NY], n.d. c.

1927. £150 A publicity brochure, 4to. pp. 4; photo. port. of Cobham to front with schematic map of Africa to background, 14 other photo. illusts. from Cobham’s flight, route map to last page; slightly creased, else very good in the original self-wrappers.

Between November 16, 1925 and March 13, 1926, the British aviator Alan Cobham flew the length of Africa to the Cape and back in the first undertaking of its kind. One of a series of longdistance flights that included Rangoon and back in 1924 and Australia and back in 1926, the achievement brought Cobham fame and success. The present advertising brochure, issued by lecture tour promoter James B. Pond, provides brief details of Cobham’s career and an overview of his flight to the Cape.

54 [Playbill. George Bernard Shaw.] Theatre Royal Nottingham . . .

Monday, November 14th, 1927 . . . The Macdona Players in Plays by Bernard Shaw Direct from the Kingsway Theatre, London. Derry and Sons Ltd. Printers, Canal Street, Nottingham, 1927. £35 A large playbill, approx. 10 x 30”, printed to one side only in red and blue, central portrait of Shaw; minor tears to margins, else very good.

The Macdona Players, founded by Charles Macdona (18601946), specialised in plays by George Bernard Shaw. This short season at Nottingham’s Theatre Royal included his Pygmalion, Getting Married, The Philanderer, The Doctor’s Dilemma, Man and Superman, and Mrs. Warren’s Profession.

55 [Hoefler, Paul L.] “Africa Speaks” A thrilling romance of adventure in the unexplored regions of Equatorial Africa. A Graphic Motion Picture and Sound Record of a trip taken by Paul L. Hoefler for the Colorado African Expedition. [Vail and Co., Printers, London, W.1], n.d. c. 1930. £95 4to. pp. 8; sketch map, photo. illusts.; very good in the original pictorial wrappers with window, slightly creased and soiled, stapled as issued.

This is a souvenir programme for the screening of Paul Hoefler’s film of the 1928 trans-African expedition from Lagos to Mombasa. The film, “Africa Speaks”, appeared in 1930; a book of the same name was published in 1931.

56 Ponting, Herbert G. The Epic of the South Pole. The Kinematograph Record of Captain Scott’s Last Antarctic Expedition. The Story of a Great Adventure . . . Souvenir. [J. &. B. Dodsworth, Ltd., Printers, Clerkenwell], n.d. c. 1930. £250 8vo. pp. 20; photo. illusts.; one sketch map; contemporary ownership inscription to inside upper wrapper, annotations to pp. 8-9, good in the original pictorial wrappers, which are age-toned with abrasion to upper wrapper with minor loss, chip with slight loss to lower wrapper, contained in contemporary plain wrappers.

Spence 929; Renard 1242 (“very scarce”). This souvenir programme for a screening of Ponting’s film was issued by the British Empire Film Institute, founded 1926. The Institute’s council, which included E. R. G. R. Evans, a member of Scott’s expediiton, selected Ponting’s record as the first film to be acquired for the “National Gallery of British films” (front wrapper). The film was screened at the Royal Albert Hall on February 26th, 1929; presumably this souvenir relates to a later screening, perhaps at the Institute itself.

57 [Dyhrenfurth, Hettie.] James B. Pond present Hettie Dyhrenfurth of the International Himalayan-Expedition. N.p. ?NY, n.d. c. 1930s. £175 A publicity brochure, 4to. pp. 4; front cover with photo. illust. of Expedition camp, 6 photo. illusts. inc. port. of Hettie Dyhrenfurth, text to central pages relating details of expedition, advert. in German to final page for books about expedition; horizontally creased with chipping to outer margins at crease, good in self-wrappers.

Hettie Dyhrenfurth accompanied her husband Günter on his 1930 expedition to Kanchenjunga. She was the only woman present, and in the following year published her account of it (Memsahb im Himalaya). The present publicity brochure was printed for the lecture promoter James B. Pond. It contains details of the expedition, with plaudits for Hettie Dyrenfurth on the final leaf.

58 [Playbill. Nottingham.] Nottingham Empire . . . Monday Nov. 23rd, 1931 . . .

B. A. Meyer presents an Exotic Review of the East entitled Shanghai Nights. N.p. [?Nottingham], 1931. £15 A large playbill, approx. 10 x 30”, printed to one side only in red and blue; minor tears to margins, else VG. The scenes are an opium den, a harem, a lotus garden, the slave market, and similar.

59 Wodehouse, P. G. & Ian Hay. “Leave it to Psmith” A Comedy of Youth, Love and Misadventure. [London: Henry Good & Sons], n.d. c. 1931. £50 A programme for a performance of the play at Shaftesbury Theatre, 16th January, 1931. 8vo. pp. [20]; 10 photo. illusts. of scenes from the play, ads.; central leaf loose, else very good in the original pictorial wrappers with portrait of Basil Foster as Psmith.

60 Buck, Pearl S. The Good Earth [film programme]. [Printed in U.S.A. by Pace Press, Inc., N.Y.C., 1937]. £45 4to. pp. 16; illusts. from photos. and stills; very good in the original pictorial wrappers, slightly soiled.

A programme on sale at screenings of the film version of Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth, set in China.

The author provides a prologue, followed by scenes from the film, the making of the film, quotations from the actors and producers, and the historical background in China.

61 [Everest 1953.] Ascent of Everest 1953. N.p. [?

London], n.d. [1953]. £175 First edition. 4to. pp. [20, including wrappers]; 10 photo. illusts., route map inside front wrapper; some time folded vertically, else good in the original pictorial wrappers, small tear to lower margin of rear wrapper. Signed to front wrapper

by E. P. Hillary (a little faint).

Not in the usual bibliographies. This programme for the Gala Premier Lecture held at Royal Festival Hall on Tuesday 15th September 1953, at 8pm, contains a foreword by Prince Philip, an introduction by the Presidents of the Alpine Club and the R.G.S., and text by Wilfrid Noyce. This copy is signed to the upper cover by Hillary, who with Tenzing made the first ascent.

62 [Everest 1953] The San Francisco Town Hall Forum, Inc. ... have the extreme honor in presenting the Mount Everest Expedition Team headed by Sir Edmund Hillary Dr. Charles Evans Mr. George Lowe. N.p. [?San Francisco], n.d. [1954]. £75 4to. 8pp.; large insert advert. for unrelated event which has browned two pages of text, corner creases and one or two marginal tears.

This is a programme for a small series of lectures in San Francisco, Sacramento and Pasadena, given in March 1954 by members of the Everest expedition. The moderator was James Morris.

63 [Himalaya. K2.] Victoria al K.2. Roma: Editalia, n.d. c. 1955. £50 A brochure for the film of the Italian ascent K2, approx. 335 x 20 cm, pp. 8, text in Spanish, coloured and b & w photo. illusts., ports. of the expedition members, fine in the original laminated pictorial wrappers.

The 1954 Italian expedition to K2 made the first ascent of the mountain. This film of the was the work of Marcello Baldi for the Club Alpino Italiano, based on footage by Mario Fantin. This brochure includes an introduction by Ardito Desio, who led the expedition, text by Fantin, and stills from the film.

64 [Himalaya. K2.] ‘K2 Italia. Serie Fotografico.’ A complete set of lobby cards with two posters for the film of the 1954 Italian Expedition, directed by Marcello Baldi. Firenze: Zincografica, [1955]. £875 A large envelope, containing 10 lobby cards, each with a photographic scene from the expedition, approx. 48 x 34 cm., together with two posters for the film, each approx. 68 x 48 cm., one or two short marginal tears, one poster slightly browned to verso and with a few tape repairs, overall in very good condition, the envelope slightly worn.

These large format images would have been used in cinemas to advertise Baldi’s film of the Italian ascent of K2. It seems unlikely that complete sets would have survived in large quantities, particularly in the original envelope in which they were distributed. Rare.

65 [Himalaya. Deutsch-Österreichischen HimalajaKarakorum Expedition.] Im Schatten des Karakorum. [Berlin: VEB Progress-Film Vertrieb], n.d. [?1957]. £45 A film programme, 4to. 4pp., photo. illust. to entire upper cover and 10 other photo. illusts., information on the film and on the expedition to central pages; marginal browning, minor marginal tears.

Im Schatten des Karakorum (In the Shadow of the Karakorum) recorded the 1954 German-Austrian Himalaya-Karakorum Expedition, led by Mathias Rebitsch. Subtitled ‘Durch das wilde Land des Hunza auf die Gipfel der Batura’ (Through the wild Hunza land to the peaks of the Batura), the film used footage by Eugen Schuhmacher and Martin Schließler, with music by Erich Bender; it won an award at the 1955 Berlinale. Anderl Heckmayer was on the expedition, as was Karl Heckler, who died during it and to whom the film is dedicated.

66 [T. E. Lawrence.] Rattigan, Terence. Theatre Royal Haymarket. Ross. A Dramatic Portrait … Programme. [Lowe & Brydone (Printers) Ltd., London], n.d. c. 1960. £10 A theatre programme, 8vo., pp. 12 including printed wrappers, portrait of Michael Bryant by Angus McBean, slightly soiled else VG. Terence Rattigan’s play on T. E. Lawrence (“Ross”) was first performed on May 12th, 1960 with Alex Guinness as Lawrence. In later performances the role was played by Michael Bryant, and this programme advertises one of these later showings.