[Rarebooks] FS: Fanny Kemble theatre broadside

[Greg Powers]

I can offer...


[Theatre broadside]:  Theatre Royal, Covent Garden.  Miss Fanny Kemble’s Night.  The Public is respectfully informed, that This present Thursday, March 25, 1830, Will be acted, Shakespeare’s Comedy of The Merchant of Venice….”  Appx. 13 by 8 inches, printed in a variety of type sizes.  Laid onto a piece of thick card, with some slight browning, small scrap of paper adhering to the blank lower right corner, small worm track in the upper margin not touching any lettering.
 
An early memento from Kemble’s career onstage—she made her acting debut as Shakespeare’s Juliet just five months earlier.  She played several Shakespearean characters and, as this broadside notes, this was her first appearance as Portia in :The Merchant of Venice.”
 
She retired from the stage in 1834 and married an American, Pierce Mease Butler, and became equally famous for her work, Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation, published in 1863, which recounted her stay on her husband’s plantation in the winter of 1838-39.
 
This broadside comprises three sections: the upper section announces the performance for “This present Thursday, March 15, 1830.”   The middle section advertises, in smaller type, “This Evening, will be performed Shakespeare’s Comedy of The Merchant of Venice,” and further states that “On Saturday and Monday, a favorite Play [unnamed], in which Miss Fanny Kemble will perform.”  And the third section, in even smaller type, simply says, “Tomorrow.  No performance.  On Saturday and Monday, a Play in which Miss Fanny Kemble will perform,” which is followed by information that is duplicated from the second section.  It almost seems as if the sections were intended to be separated after printing: the upper section to be posted in advance, the middle to be handed out on the streets on the day of the performance, and the third to be handed out at the performance.

$250 plus shipping

http://home.comcast.net/~powersrarebooks/KembleMain.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~powersrarebooks/KembleDetail.jpg

Powers Rare Books
Greg Powers, proprietor
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