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Details
FIELDING, Henry. The Tragedy of Tragedies; or the Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great. London: J. Roberts, 1731.
8° (191 x 108 mm). Engraved frontispiece after William Hogarth. (Gatherings sprung, some pale browning). Later wrappers; modern grey paper folder with title label. Provenance: Bedales School Library (bookplate).
FIRST EDITION, first performed 24 March 1731 at the Theatre in Hay-Market. “Besides doubling the length of the original Tom Thumb (see lot 54) by such devices as adding the character of the captive queen Glumdalca, HF enlarged the range of the play’s humor by adding a mock-scholarly preface and annotations that both identify the specific sources of the burlesque and satirize the pedantry of critics. It thus became a ‘reading’, as well as an ‘acting,’ play. HF’s fondness for [the play] is suggested by the fact that the published version is the only one of his works published in his lifetime to include a frontispiece” (Battestin, Fielding Companion, p. 186). Cross III, p.292.
8° (191 x 108 mm). Engraved frontispiece after William Hogarth. (Gatherings sprung, some pale browning). Later wrappers; modern grey paper folder with title label. Provenance: Bedales School Library (bookplate).
FIRST EDITION, first performed 24 March 1731 at the Theatre in Hay-Market. “Besides doubling the length of the original Tom Thumb (see lot 54) by such devices as adding the character of the captive queen Glumdalca, HF enlarged the range of the play’s humor by adding a mock-scholarly preface and annotations that both identify the specific sources of the burlesque and satirize the pedantry of critics. It thus became a ‘reading’, as well as an ‘acting,’ play. HF’s fondness for [the play] is suggested by the fact that the published version is the only one of his works published in his lifetime to include a frontispiece” (Battestin, Fielding Companion, p. 186). Cross III, p.292.