Author: Various
Title: Asmall Collection of Boston Theatre Broadsides, Leaflets, and Playbills, Mostly Related to the Booth Family
Description: Boston, Various, 1860. Nine items - four leaflets, one broadside, three playbills, one issue of "The Boston Ray," 1860s - 1870s; various sizes, printed and illustrated with fancy fonts, small engravings, and ornamental borders; leaflets appear to have been hand-sewn (for safekeeping) with a period thread, now gone; scattered spots of foxing and several penciled-in notes; playbills with small creases and several closed cuts to edges; broadisde with small loss of paper to top edge and creasing to bottom; "The Boston Ray" with small cuts to bottom edge; overall in about very good condition. A beautiful collection, several of its items showcased the names of two of the Booth Family members - brothers of actor and Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth and actors in their own right. Edwin Booth (183 - 1893) would be remembered for his Shakespearean roles in plays in both Europe and the United States and would be considered by many theatrical historians the greatest American actor of the 19th century and the best Prince Hamlet. He would be featured in three of the programs, for his performances of Shylock in the Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Petruchio, and SIr Edward Mortimer in the Iron Chest. Junius Brutus Booth Jr. (1821 - 1883), the oldest of the Booth brothers, though not as accomplished an actor as the other two, would be highly-regarded for his performances as King John and as Cassius in Julius Caesar. He would also be successful in managing several major theaters. Four of the current programs listed his name as lessee and manager of the Boston Theatre. Other notable names in the collection were British operatic soprano and co-owner of the Carl Rosa Opera Company Euphrosyne Parera Rosa (1836 - 1874); actress and theater manager Elizabeth Crocker Bowers, known professionally as D. P. Bowers (1830 - 1895); and others. Good .

Keywords: Theater


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