Memoirs of the Life of David Garrick, Esq., Interspersed with Characters and Anecdotes of his Theatrical Contemporaries, the Whole Forming a History of the Stage, which Includes a Period of Thirty-Six Years
London: Printed for the Author, and sold at his Shop in Great Russell Street, Covent-Garden, 1781. Very Good. Item #6578
London: Printed for the Author, and sold at his Shop in Great Russell Street, Covent-Garden, 1781. Third Edition [with Davies's corrections]. Octavo; Vol I [16] + 352pp; Vol II [16] + 434pp + 2pp of Subscription Prospectus for Davies's forthcoming Dramatic Miscellanies. Frontispiece portrait engraving of Garrick by John Keyse Sherwin (1751-1790). Original tree calf with spines ornamented in gilt, title labeled against crimson. Panel borders and edges tooled in gilt. Each volume with original bound-in green and white ribbon marker.
Rebacked with great cosmetic and structural discretion. Joins and hinges solid. Corners bumped and somewhat eroded. Tooling on panel edges eroded. Very mild foxing throughout. Signature of 20th-century owner on ffep of both volumes.
Volume I preliminary matter comprises Davies's 1780 dedicatory letter to Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and his Advertisement for this Third Edition, with effusive thanks to Samuel Johnson for his contributions.
David Garrick (1717-1779), the greatest actor of his age and the clubbable companion of Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, as well as one of the founding promulgators of the Shakespeare mythos, was renowned enough to be interred in the Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. Thomas Davies (c.1713-1785), Scottish actor, bookseller, publisher, and author, was so beloved of Johnson that Johnson bought back his furniture for him when Davies was facing bankruptcy. This Life of Garrick—underwritten in several figurative senses by Johnson—is Davies's monument.
Price: $300.00