COMIQUE

[Dion Boucicault, Irish actor and playwright.] Autograph Letter Signed to Charles Manby of the Adelphi Theatre, discussing his difficult quest in Paris to acquire music for a production.

Author: 
Dion Boucicault [Dionysius Lardner Boucicault; né Boursiquot] (1820-1890), Irish actor and playwright [Charles Manby (1804-84), Secretary of the Institution of Civil Engineers]
Publication details: 
'Paris Hotel de Helder / Rue du Helder / Friday morning'. No year.
£65.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, as well as that of Manby who had, as the letter indicates, strong French connections. In addition to his work as Secretary to the Institution of Civil Engineers, Manby was also the business manager of the Adelphi Theatre in London. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Letter of thirty-eight lines on the first three pages, with address and four postmarks (two French and two English) on reverse of second leaf: ‘C. Manby Esq. / Institution Civil Engineers / 25 Great George St. / Westminster / London / Angleterre’.

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[‘Theatre Royal Darwar’, 1858: British amusements during the Indian Mutiny.] Seven items relating to the ‘Corps Dramatique’ of ‘Mrs. Comfit’: four handbills and three manuscript items, incl.2 poems and drawing of castigating Englishwoman. See Image.

Author: 
‘Theatre Royal Darwar’, ‘Opera Comique d’Arwar’, ‘Mrs. Comfit & Co’ [Dharwar, Bombay Presidency, India [now Dharwad, Karnataka]; Indian Mutiny; the Raj; East India Company; British India]
darwar
Publication details: 
Three of the eight items dated to 1858, and with the same date on one of the mounts; all from Dharwar, Bombay Presidency, India [now Dharwad, Karnataka].
£750.00
darwar

An interesting and evocative collection of ephemeral material, casting light on the social activities and entertainments of the British in India in the last months of the Indian Mutiny, also the year of the dissolution of the East India Company. No other record of this amateur ‘Corps Dramatique’, or of its conductor ‘Mrs. Comfit’, has been discovered.

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