HUGH KELLY, THE 18TH CENTURY LONDON PLAYWRIGHT -- AN EXCESSIVELY-RARE SUBSCRIBER'S RECEIPT SIGNED BY HIM. OFTEN SAID, THAT HE WAS A PLAYWRIGHT EQUAL TO OLIVER GOLDSMITH AND SAMUEL JOHNSON, BUT WHO DIED TRAGICALLY YOUNG, AT THE AGE OF 37

HUGH KELLY

Erscheinungsdatum: 1770

Beschreibung

KELLY, HUGH. (1739-1777). Irish-born British dramatist, critic, and journalist who was a serious rival to the playwright Oliver Goldsmith in the London theatre. A Choice and excessively-rare [possibly unique] Partly-printed Subscriber s receipt Signed, Hu Kelly . This receipt entitles the recipient a copy of his A WORD TO THE WISE , when issued. One page, oblong, small octavo. [London, 1770]. The receipt acknowledges five Shillings from Miss Holland of Fulham which entitles the Subscriber to a Copy of A WORD TO THE WISE . Boldly signed by Kelly at the lower right. Neatly inlaid to a larger leaf. The resounding success of Kelly s first play, False Delicacy, (1768) staged with the patronage of David Garrick, cost him Goldsmith s friendship and earned him the enduring resentment of Samuel Johnson, who had written the prologue for Goldsmith s play. He edited The Court Magazine (1761-1765) and published a short novel: Memoirs of a Magdalen (1767). His: The School for Wives (1773), and an afterpiece, The Romance of an Hour (1774), proved equally successful; but a final comedy, The Man of Reason (1776), was a failure, and Kelly, having been called to the bar in 1774, retired from the theatre to practice law. He died in poverty, at his house in Gough Square, London. A search on the WorldCat, a research tool that combines the data bases of all the world s great library holdings, shows the existence of ONLY ONE LETTER of his known to exist, and that is in the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washignton, D.C. Further research revealed that the production of this, his second comedy, A Word to the Wise (Drury Lane, 3rd of March 1770), caused a riot in the theatre, which was repeated at the second performance, and the piece had to then be abandoned! Needless to say his material is of exceptional rarity, and for the institution or collector of drama and theater, a simply must have item! Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 221513

Bibliografische Details

Titel: HUGH KELLY, THE 18TH CENTURY LONDON ...

Erscheinungsdatum: 1770

Einband: No Binding

Zustand: Near Fine