SYRACUSE

Small octavo. Pages: xx + 257. Original black cloth decorated in orange. Orange dustwrapper. Eight illustrations in colour, sixty-five in half-tone, and map. Good copy, though foxed throughout, in good binding lightly worn at head and tale of spine and with a little spotting. Dustwrapper discoloured and with wear and loss at corners and head and tail of spine.

The four items present here are the prompt books for performances of Shakespeare plays by the 'Young Ladies of the University of Vermont', under the direction of New York actor Ernest Elton. BACKGROUND: Professor George B. Bryan, in a 'History of Theatre at the University of Vermont' writes that around the turn of the century 'The women students launched their own dramatic activities. If the men could stage their frivolities at the Howard Opera House, the ladies would perform classical plays on the lawn of Grasse Mount.

1p., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Meriam is enclosing a 'copy of bill appropriating $350 per annum for two years for the education &c of Onondaga Indian Children which was signed by the Governor on the 5th Inst'. The letter ends with Meriam reporting the receipt of two letters. Syracuse University Library holds a collection of 'Ebenezer Meriam Letters on Onondaga Indian Education', including eight from May.