Rooke Books

Comic Dramas in Three Acts

Maria Edgeworth · 1817

£380.00 (€455.14 | $511.12 | ¥80,757)

London, R. Hunter, 1817. First edition. Leather. A fantastic first edition of three comic plays by Maria Edgeworth. A very original near fine copy.Bound without publisher's advertisments. Containing her plays Love and Law, The Two Guardians and The Rose, Thistle and Shamr...

Talma on the Actor&Apos;S Art

Francois Joseph Talma; Henry Irving [preface] · 1883

£125.00 (€149.72 | $168.13 | ¥26,565)

London, Roorbach & Company, 1883 . First edition. Paperback. The very scarce first English language translation of celebrated French actor François-Joseph Talma's discussion of the 'Actor's Art&apos. This first edition thus was translated at the suggestion of S...

Two Programmes for the Gaiety Theatre

John Hollingshead; Henry J. Byron · 1878

£95.00 (€113.78 | $127.78 | ¥20,189)

London, Louise et Cie, 1878-79. Paperback. Two very scarce programmes for the Gaiety Theatre, a now-closed West End theatre. Two very scarce programmes for shows at the Gaiety Theatre.'The Grasshopper' by Meilhac and Halvey, adapted by John Hollingshead, and 'Li...

Harlequin Phoenix, or, the Rise and Fall of a Bergamask Rogue

Thelma Niklaus · 1956

£80.00 (€95.82 | $107.61 | ¥17,002)

London, The Bodley Head, 1956. First edition. Cloth. The first edition of this curious history of the Harlequin character, an illustrated volume, including with colour plates. The first edition, first impression.In the original unclipped dust wrapper, designed by Mervyn Peake....

Souvenir of King Arthur by J. Comyns Carr As Presented at the Lyceum Theatre, 12th January, 1895 by Henry Irving

J. Comyns Carr · 1895

£225.00 (€269.49 | $302.64 | ¥47,817)

London, Cassell & Co. Ltd, 1895. First edition. Paperback. A very scarce collection of illustrations as based on Comyns Carr's play King Arthur. First edition. Scarce work. With thirteen plates. Collated complete. A souvenir for those attending the play 'King Arthur&...

Souvenir Programme of the Matinee Organised by the Daily Telegraph As a Tribute to Miss Marie Tempest

1935

£55.00 (€65.88 | $73.98 | ¥11,689)

London , The Daily Telegraph , 1935. First edition. Cloth. A charming souvenir programme dedicated to a star of the opera and the stage. The Souvenir Programme for Marie Tempest's jubilee matinee organised by the Daily Telegraph for Tuesday May 28th 1935. All the proceeds...

The Lion and the Unicorn: A Play in Three Acts

Clemence Dane [Winifred Ashton] · 1943

£60.00 (€71.86 | $80.70 | ¥12,751)

London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1943. Hardback. An excellent limited edition copy, signed by the author, of this illustrated play by Clemence Dane. A limited edition printed to one thousand copies signed by the author, this volume being number two hundred and ten in the series....

The Theatre of the Empire of Great-Britain, Kingdom of England, Scotland, Ireland and the Isles Adjoyning

John Speed · 1676

£1,800.00 (€2,155.93 | $2,421.11 | ¥382,535)

London, Thomas Bassett; Richard Chiswell, 1676. Leather. A collection of leaves from the highly sought after geographical work; The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain. Complete with the maps this is around £100,000. Containing; the original title page in both red and blac...

Les Precieuses Ridicules

Moliere · 1760

£135.00 (€161.69 | $181.58 | ¥28,690)

Paris, Bauche, c1760. Leather. A very scarce collection of Moliere's satirical plays, published in approximately 1760. A collection of Moliere's plays. The comedy of manners was received so well, Moliere and his company received the patronage of Louis XIV. Les Precio...

Good Old Gaiety" an Historiette and Remembrance

John Hollingshead · 1903

£35.00 (€41.92 | $47.08 | ¥7,438)

London, The Gaiety Theatre Company, Ltd. 1903 . First edition. Leather. Red morocco illustrated first edition of Hollingshead's significant remembrance of the 1868 Gaiety Theatre. Uncommon first edition.In publisher's original red morocco.With a colour frontispiece a...

Showmen and Suckers: An Excursion on the Crazy Fringe of the Entertainment World

Maurice Gorham · 1951

£70.00 (€83.84 | $94.15 | ¥14,876)

London, Percival Marshall , 1951. First edition. Cloth. An excellent volume on the world of entertainment from Irish journalist Maurice Gorham, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone. The first edition. With the publisher's original unclipped dust wrapper. Illustrated with in-...

Letters to George the Account of a Rehearsal

Max Stafford-Clark · 1989

£70.00 (€83.84 | $94.15 | ¥14,876)

London , Nick Hern Books, 1989. First edition. Cloth. A signed first edition of this insight into director, Max Stafford-Clark's working methods, with two loosely inserted letters. The first edition, first impression of the work. Presentation copy, signed by the author to...

Histoire Du Theatre Italien, Depuis la Decadence de la Comedie Latine; Avec Un Catalogue Des Tragedies & Comedies Italiennes Imprimees Depuis L&Apos;an 1500 Jusqu&Apos;a L&Apos;an 1660 & Une Dissertation Sur la Tragedie Moderne

Louis Ricoboni; Luigi Riccoboni · 1730

£340.00 (€407.23 | $457.32 | ¥72,257)

Paris, Andre Cailleau, 1730. Leather. A scarce French work on sixteenth and seventeenth century Italian plays, written by the noted actor and writer Luigi Riccoboni The second edition of this scarce work.In the original French.Volume I only, lacking Volume II.Collated, lacking...

Burlesque Giants and Dwarfs

1885

£450.00 (€538.98 | $605.28 | ¥95,634)

London , J. R. Maxwell, 1885. First edition. Brochure/Pamphlet. A very scarce pamphlet of illusions, with illustrations. A publication on transfiguration and stage tricks for Burlesque theatre. Transfiguration and stage tricks. Vanishingly scarce, not recorded on Copac only on...

Saint Joan

George Bernard Shaw · 1924

£2,500.00 (€2,994.34 | $3,362.66 | ¥531,298)

London, Constable and Company , 1924. First edition. Cloth. A fantastic first edition copy of George Bernard Shaw's play regarding Joan of Arc. Signed by the star of the play, Sybil Thorndike. Signed by many notable figures such as: Sybil Thorndike, the British actress wh...

The Globe Restored a Study of the Elizabethan Theatre

C. Walter Hodges · 1953

£39.99 (€47.90 | $53.79 | ¥8,499)

London, Ernest Benn Limited, 1953. Cloth. A study of the theatre of Shakespeare, with particular reference to The Globe. Illustrated with numerous plates to the rear. In a cloth binding with original unclipped dustwrapper. Externally, smart, though with some light bumping. Dus...

Le Faust de Goethe; Suivi Du Second Faust

Goethe; Gerard De Nerval [trans.]; · 1868

£140.00 (€167.68 | $188.31 | ¥29,753)

Paris, Michel Levy Freres, 1868 . Leather. An illustrated French translation of notable German writer Goethe's most successful play. The illustrated edition of the work.Translated to French by Gerard de Nerval.Illustrated with a frontispiece, and 9 further plates by Tony ...

The Old Play-Goer

William Robson · 1846

£125.00 (€149.72 | $168.13 | ¥26,565)

London, Joseph Masters, 1846 . First edition. Cloth. The first edition of this fascinating series of letters describing the British stage at the beginning of the nineteenth-century, in the publisher's original cloth. The first edition in the publisher's original clot...

Daly&Apos;S: The Biography of a Theatre

D. Forbes-Winslow · 1944

£35.00 (€41.92 | $47.08 | ¥7,438)

London, W. H. Allen & Co. 1944 . First edition. Cloth. A good first edition of Forbes-Winslow"s richly illustrated history of Daly"s Theatre, the Leicester Square home of Edwardian musical comedy In the publisher's original quarter cloth binding, with pictorial paper boar...

Beaumont and Fletcher; or, the Finest Scenes, Lyrics, and Other Beauties of Those Two Poets

Leigh Hunt [ed.] · 1862

£30.00 (€35.93 | $40.35 | ¥6,376)

London, Henry G. Bohn, 1862. Cloth. A very scarce copy of this work, in original cloth binding, in lovely condition. A very scarce copy of the second edition, in its original green pictorial cloth. A compilation of works by the Jacobean dramatist pair Francis Beaumont and John...