Rare Theater Books

San Francisco:: Pettingell Book Bindery / Art Hazelwood,, 2011.. Edition of 20. 12 x 13" fold-out boxed opera set with screenprinted covers. Includes miniature stage set, seven two-dimensional puppets that fit into groves in the stage floor, six engravings that act as changeable background drops, and a booklet with libretto. Engravings printed on Hahnemühle Copperplate paper and Lana Gravure paper. Screenprints printed on Hahnemühle Bugra paper and Arches Watercolor Hot Press paper. Booklet (8.5 x 5"; 24 pages) printed on Mohawk Superfine and set in Verlag, Chronicle Text, and Lithos Pro. Signed by Hazelwood. Art Hazelwood: "Tora Bora is a reverse engineered opera. The Seventeenth Century etcher Jacques Callot’s illustrations of scenes from operas inspired the thought—what if all that remained of an opera were etchings from a few scenes? How, for example, would the Magic Flute be reconstructed from that? With this in mind Art Hazelwood and Klaus-Ullrich… Read More

London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1827. In two volumes, gilt decorated spines and edges of boards, brown and red leather labels, marbled endpages and marbled edges of page block (top edges dusty). Both volumes Very Good. Vol. 1, missing red leather volume number label, small chips to title label, evidence of bookplate removal front pastedown( that of Carberry Tower Library).Volume 2, Carberry Tower Library bookplate top corner front pastedown,small chips to volume number label. Both volumes minor scuffing at the tips. Overall quite lovely and SCARCE in collectable condition. . First Edition. Full Calf. Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Guildford, England:: Circle Press,, 1979.. First Limited. 40 x 32 Designed and produced by Ronald King with notes & introductory essay 'The Elusive Absolute' by Keith Please. Limited edition of three hundred books with five H.C. copies, forty Artist's Proofs and ten marked Circle Press held for presentation; all the books SIGNED by the artist. Book designed & printed by the artist at Circle Press. Text in 10 pt. Baskerville. The paper is pure rag-made 250 gsm. Velin Cuve Rives Blanc, and the box designed and made at Dorset Bookbinding by Paul Haskell. A beautifully rendered edition of Shakespeare's play with King's own marginal notes and lustrious contemporary illustrations. Cooking the Books: "Antony & Cleopatra is a departure from King's other illustrated classic texts. He himself likens it to a contemporary film script in that it flits from place to place, the scene rapidly changing from Rome to Egypt and back again. Something of this hectic quality… Read More

The books in this multi-volume set are in very good condition. There is almost no wear on all three books in this set. The front, back, spine and cover boards are in very good condition as well as the edges. There is minor bumping on the corners of all three books. The previous owners name is written on the inside of the front cover boards of all three books. The pages of all three books are tanned and yellowed but clear of any markings. This multi-volume set contains the complete plays of Eugene O'Neill.

New York : Henry Holt and Company, 1945 First edition, stated first printing. Signed and inscribed by Robert Frost to Jerome Cantor, on the front free endpaper, with a program for the Bread Loaf Little Theatre production for "An Evening of Robert Frost," including a performance of "The Hill Wife" and "A Masque of Reason," with Jerome Cantor as Satan. Faint moister marks to front panel, light age-toning to endpapers and page margins, and a short closed tear to back end-paper, else book in fine condition; dust jacket with mild chipping to spine ends, faint age-toning to back cover margins, and light shelf wear, else fine.

London: William Pickering, 1825. Hardcover. Very Good. 3.5" x 2" Miniature edition of t he Plays of Shakespeare in 9 volumes, in custom slipcase. Vol 1: [vi] 306 p.p.; vol 2: 279 p.p; vol 3: 294 p.p; vol 4: 326 p.p; vol. 5: 321 p.p.; vol. 6: 348 p.p.; vol. 7: 320 p.p.; vol. 8: 315 p.p.; vol. 9: 279 p.p. [liv]. Full green morocco bindings, with some wear and scuffs. Spine rebacked with new black leather with original spine laid down on volume 1 only. Gilt titles on spines and gilt ruling on inner edges. 38 B&W plates, incl. frontis. engraved by Augustus Fox, from a picture painted by T. Stothard R.A. from the rare print by Droeshout. Browning to pages and illustrations, sporadic light foxing throughout. Water staining to volume 6, not affecting text. William Pickering was an English publisher notable for introducing cloth binding to British publishing. Dedicated to Earl R.H. George John Spencer, the 2nd Lord Spencer, noted for his interest in literature, particularly early examples of printing.… Read More

London: Albany Empire Theatre No date, circa 1979-1982. SCARCE theatre poster. Fine, as issued. Great graphics and color. Well suited for framing, will be shipped loosely rolled in a mailing tube. . First Printing. Poster. Fine. 20" x 30".

E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc, 1937. Hardcover. Very Good. 0x0x0. Collectible first edition, first printing of legendary American theater actor, Pulitzer Prize winning producer, filmmaker and renowned boxing promoter William A. Brady's autobiography, Showman, My Life Story. "FIRST EDITION" so stated on copyright page. Signed and inscribed on front free endpaper verso by Brady to colleague and friend (and legend in her own right) Frances Marion thus: "To an old associate | Frances Marion | a "good fellow" if there | ever was one. With the | kindest regards of | William A. Brady | N.Y.C. St. Patrick's Day | 1940." Signature unconditionally guaranteed to pass any COA examination. Marion's personal copy. Bound in 1/2 yellow linen over blue linen with black lettering to front and spine panels. Dust jacket with $3.00 price intact and photo of Brady to back panel. Illustrated with numerous historical photos, including a photo frontis. 278 pp. 8 7/8" x 6… Read More

Volume 7 only of the 10-volume collection of stage portraits from the mid-19th century.Title page with vignette and 83 (of 100) handcoloured lithographic plates of actors, opera singers and ballet dancers in costume of their roles by Alexandre Lacauchie, Victor Dollet and Louis Lassalle, lithographed by Decan and Destouches, Paris.Includes the famous Italian ballerinas Fanny Cerrito and Caroline Rosati, French dancer Marie Guy-Stephan, actress Mlle. Alphonsine, soprano Marie-Charlotte Lemercier, and many more mid-century stars.Missing plates 601 603 606 607 609 614 619 625 637 638 670 671 674 675 681 697 and 700.The series was published from 1844-1870 in 10 volumes with 1,000 plates.Condition: Half red buckram split on the gutter, marble boards scuffed, but plates bright and vivid with fine handcolour, a few slightly spotted.Considered to be the most important French artists gallery of the 19th century.Alexandre Lacauchie (1814-1886) was a French painter, engraver and lithographer. Jean Francois… Read More

Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1885. English Jacobean poet and playwright, (1580-1627). One of 350 copies printed and the type distributed. Eight volumes in publisher's cloth, gilt lettering at spines, brown endpapers, bookplates of Mary Rebecca Thayer, dated 1919, who was a professor of English at the College of Wooster. Very Good set, Vols. I and VI with hinges cracked yet bindings holding nicely, rear brown end page missing Vol. VIII, small tears to cloth at spine ends. Overall a quite attractive and SCARCE set, most pages uncut. Due to weight will require additional postage charges for priority or international mail. Please inquire. . First American Edition. Cloth. Very Good/No Jacket, As Issued. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Limited Edition.

London: Constable and Company, 1928. Two volumes in publisher's original black cloth, gilt lettering at spines. top edges gilt, the bookplates of The Pacific-Union Club of San Francisco. Near Fine, no jackets, top corners bumped Vol. I. Each volume with engraved frontispiece portrait and with one additional engraved portrait. A rather uncommon title, this a quite handsome set. . New Edition. Cloth. Near Fine/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Milano: Ricordi, 1830. First Edition — Primera edición. 232x325mm. (9¼x12¾").. Milano & Firenze, Gio. Ricordi, c.1830. Folio oblongo (232 x 325)mm. (1) hoja de título, (1) h. de índice y personajes, 266 pp., 5 láminas grabadas y coloreadas a mano en la época representando los escenarios de la obra sobre dibujos de Sanquirico. Encuadernación en pleno marroquén de época color azul marino, hilo y rueda dorada enmarcando los planos, lomera cuajada de adornos dorados, rueda dorada en los contracantos, cabeza y cortes también dorados. Primera edición de gran rareza extra ilustrado con láminas de Sanquirico. Il Talismano, con libreto de Gaetano Barniere sobre texto de Walter Scott, fue la primera representación en el Teatro alla Scala de Milán, representada el 10 de junio de 1829. El libro, todo grabado en plancha, está además ilustrado con 5 magníficas láminas grabadas en litografía y coloreadas a mano inventadas y dibujadas por Alessandro Sanquirico representando escenarios para la… Read More

Paris: Calmann-Levy, Editeurs, 1913. Finely bound in contemporary quarter black morocco over marbled boards, five raised bands with gilt lettering back, marbled end papers. The first trade edition, after a limited numbered edition of 125 copies. Near Fine, tiny rubs at corners, the paper uniformly browning. . First Edition. Quarter Morocco. Near Fine. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall.

4° (mm 200x135); cc. (8), segnate A-B4. Al frontespizio, silografia dell'Angelo al di sopra di un'altra silografia scenico-narrativa (mm 90x115); alla carta B1r, silografia a tre quarti di pagina (mm 73x102); al verso dell'ultima carta, la medesima silografia del frontespizio. Elegante legatura tardo-ottocentesca - verosimilmente inglese - in marocchino marrone con filettatura in oro ai piatti e titolo in oro lungo il dorso. Bell'esemplare.
Provenienza: Fairfax-Murray ? (cfr. Sander, 6220 [nota]); Libreria Il Polifilo, Milano (Cat. XIII [1947], n. 69).
Rarissima edizione fiorentina, splendidamente illustrata da tre silografie scenico-narrative. Cioni, 175-76; De Batines, 35-36; Sander, 6220 [nota]; Kristeller, 185.
Quella del frontespizio, reimpressa al verso dell'ultima carta, riprende il legno della prima edizione [Firenze, fine del sec. XV- inizi del sec. XVI, cfr. Sander, 6215, tav. 646, De Marinis, 166, tav. CXCVIII). Il secondo legno, che rappresenta un giovane uomo inginocchiato davanti a un… Read More

Complete set of 18 volumes of the first edition of John Bell's British Theatre with the de Wilde portraits."In 1793, the year of his first bancrupty, the beleaguered Bell bound up and sold the first 90 numbers of the new de Wilde-illustrated edition without general volume title pages." (Kalman A. Burnim and Philip H. Highfill Jr.). This set conforms to that description: volumes 1 to 18, each with five plays complete with all 90 title pages and theatrical portraits by Samuel de Wilde, engraved by John Chapman, lacking volume titles. Portraits include actors, actresses and opera singers of the Georgian stage including Sarah Siddons, John Philip Kemble, Robert Baddeley, Isabella Mattocks, Charles Lee Lewes, Harriet Pye Esten, Elizabeth Billington, Anna Maria Crouch, Anna Selina Storace, Joseph George Holman, Elizabeth Younge (later Pope),etc.Vol. 1: Comus by John Milton, Maid of the Mill, School for Fathers and Love in a Village by Isaac Bickerstaff, The Beggar's Opera by John Gay. Vol. 2: Venice… Read More