John Gay — The Beggar&Apos;S Opera

London, William Heinemann Ltd , 1923. Cloth. A charming illustrated edition of John Gay's ballad opera 'The Beggar's Opera' with illustrations by C Lovat Fraser. A new edition. Ballad opera in three acts originally written in 1728 by John Gay. Presented in this edition with music prefixed to each song. An Augustan drama, the only example of the once thriving genre of satirical ballad opera to remain popular today. The opera premiered at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in 1728 and ran for 62 consecutive performances, the second-longest run in theatre history up to that time. A satire of Italian opera. Featuring coloured frontispiece and seven further plates as well as numerous illustrations in text. Collated, complete. Scenes and Costumes by C Lovat Fraser. In the unclipped dust wrapper. With newspaper clippings concerning the opera, including a colourful illustration for the opera loosely inserted. In the original publisher's quarter cloth binding. Externally smart with light wear to extremities, lightly bumped to head and tail of spine. Boards only lightly marked. Dust wrapper with chipping to extremities, wraps detached from spine. Dust wrapper with light loss to head and tail of spine, which has darkened. Internally, firmly bound. Pages generally bright and clean. Very Good . Ill.: C Lovat Fraser. Very Good/Good Only.