Lot 8: i am a restricted lot

KILLIGREW, THOMAS

Comedies and Tragedies. bound with The Prisoners. London: Printed [by John Macock] for Henry Herringman, 1664 (and T. Crooke, 1664 for the first title of the Prisoners). First edition, first issue (with the titles to the separate plays all dates 1663), a regular paper copy. Full brown armorial calf by Charles Lewis, with his stamp, the Brownlow arms on the front cover; housed in a fine but misfitting pull-off morocco case. 11 1/4 x 7 3/8 inches (28.5 x 19 cm); 576, [2]; 80 pp.; [-]¹ •² a-4C⁴; π² (lacking π1, presumed blank), a-k ⁴; with the fine engraved portrait by Faithorne after Sheppard of the author at his desk, with his faithful dog in the foreground, and a portrait of King Charles II in the background, the second state of this frontispiece (as the Pforzheimer copy). Minor binding wear and scuffing, within some toning and spotting to the text. With the bookplate of Belton House, the residence of the Brownlows, whose arms are on the covers.; the book label of Charles and Virginia Baldwin; and the bookplate of Christopher Rowe.

As with the Pforzheimer example, this copy is bound with Killigrew's plays Claricilla and The Prisoners located after 4C4. Pforzheimer discusses the publication history of these in some detail. Unlike the Pforzheimer copy (at least, based on the provided collation), this copy has an initial separate title for The Prisoners. This leaf, [π1] in the collation above, is dated 1664, and bears Andrew Crook's imprint, as do the section titles dated 1663 for Claricilla and The Prisoners.

Killigrew was a theatre manager and playwright in the Restoration period of Charles II, who built a playhouse on the site of what is now the Drury Lane Theater in London. A dissolute cavalier figure at court, he began his theatrical career as a child, working as an extra player at the Red Bull Theatre in exchange for free admission. He was a Page of Honour to Charles I and a Groom of the Bed-Chamber to Charles II. In his Diary, Samuel Pepys noted in his diaries, on 17 February 1669, "Among the rest of the King's company, there was that worthy fellow my lord of Rochester, and Tom Killigrew, whose mirth and raillery offended the former so much, that he did give Tom Killigrew a box on the ear in the King's presence, which do much give offence to the people here at Court, to see how cheap the King makes himself." ( Wing K-450; Pforzheimer 571; ESTC R7715; Greg p.1085-6 etc.