Description
[000075] Peake, Richard Brinsley, Memoirs of the Colman Family, Including Their Correspondence with the Most Distinguished Personages of Their Time, Richard Bentley, London, 1841, First Edition, Good. Half Calf and Cloth, 8vo. Two volumes complete – Volume One – xi, 432pp and Volume Two – viii, 454pp.
Half-calf and cloth binding, raised bands spines in six panels, double contrasting leather title/volume labels to panels two and four, remaining panels with central flower heads and fleuron corner pieces gilt decoration to spines.
Light spotting to calf, volume two is slightly chipped to head of spine, slightly worn to extremities. Internally some light browning, especially to frontispieces, very light foxing to fore-edge, previous owners (Sir Robert Johnson Eden) armorial bookplate to front pastedown of volume one, otherwise generally internally quite bright and clean.
George Colman the elder 1732-1794, “George Colman the elder is chiefly remembered today as co-author of The Clandestine Marriage. His lesser dramatic works gave much pleasure in their day and frequently served a genuine satiric purpose. Despite his poor health he was a man of considerable energy, and the range and quality of his essays, journalism, translations, and criticism remain impressive. A member of the Beefsteak Club and Dr Johnson’s Club, he enjoyed the friendship of the leading writers, artists, and wits of his day. Above all, he was one of the finest theatre managers of the century, the great little manager” …. George Colman the Younger, 1762-1836, “Colman was much beloved among the members of the theatrical community for his good humour and generosity, many times providing assistance for performers and other friends in need. He achieved a considerable reputation as a dramatist, being termed in the press of the 1790s as second only to Sheridan, and when the illustrious creator of The School for Scandal died in 1814, Colman then became recognized as the foremost playwright of his era. Many of his plays remained repertory standards well into the nineteenth century, throughout the British empire and the United States, though in the early twenty-first century they are virtually unknown except to specialists” (Oxford DNB)
