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Sethona. A Tragedy. As it is Performed at the Theatre-Royal in Drury Lane.
London: Printed for T. Becket, the Corner of the Adelphi, in the Strand. MDCCLXXIV. 8vo, disbound. [4], 75, [1] pp., all leaves inlaid. First edition of this play set in a mythical ancient Egypt. Alexander Dow (d. 1779) spent much of his life serving in the British army in India. According to The Oxford Companion to English Literature in 1768 Dow “joined the fashion for Oriental Tales with Tales....of the Inatulla of Dehli, a series of flamboyant and ribald stories which met with some success. In the same year he published The History of Hindostan; two dramas, Zingis and Sethona followed in 1769 and 1774.” The advertisement leaf in Sethona states that “Colonel Dow, when he sailed for India, left the following Tragedy in the possession of Mr. Garrick. The event has shewn, that the reputation of an absent author could not have been trusted in safer hands. He spared no expence as a manager, no pains as a man of taste....” The play relates the plight of Sethona, daughter of Seraphis, the king of Egypt, who faces marriage to the detested Amasis, who has usurped the throne after dispatching with Seraphis and Menes (Sethona’s betrothed). Includes a prologue by Richard Cumberland and an epilogue by David Garrick. CONDITION: Good, early manuscript notes on title-page reading “Written by Alex. Dow” and “First edition.” Another note in the margin reads “Collated & Perfect. J.D.K. 1800.” Some loss to margins of last three leaves, affecting only the paper into which the leaves are inlaid.
Item #4948
Price: $475.00