GARRICK, DAVID (1717-1779), actor. Autograph letter, signed ("D. Garrick") to Thomas Racket (an Oxford undergraduate), Adelphi Theater [London], 2 December 1775. 3 pages, 4to, 226 x 184 mm. (9 x 7 in.), integral address leaf in Garrick's hand, small red wax seal with initials "DG". "I PLAYED HAMLET LAST WEDNESDAY." A cheery letter to a young admirer. In 1770, Rackett, aged fourteen, had recited Garrick's ode for the Shakespeare jubilee and so impressed him that Garrick gave the boy a presentation copy of the work. The following year, Garrick gave Rackett a folio copy of Shakespeare with a laudatory inscription. Here, Garrick thanks Rackett for a "noble" Christmas present: "I shall have no occasion to trouble my Butcher or poulterer any more...I played Hamlet last Wedenesday & after the play your Father and Mother went home with us to take part of my Chicken...Hamlet was ye most crowded house we ever had & Archer was a more splendid one tho' not quite so profitable..."

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GARRICK, DAVID (1717-1779), actor. Autograph letter, signed ("D. Garrick") to Thomas Racket (an Oxford undergraduate), Adelphi Theater [London], 2 December 1775. 3 pages, 4to, 226 x 184 mm. (9 x 7 in.), integral address leaf in Garrick's hand, small red wax seal with initials "DG". "I PLAYED HAMLET LAST WEDNESDAY." A cheery letter to a young admirer. In 1770, Rackett, aged fourteen, had recited Garrick's ode for the Shakespeare jubilee and so impressed him that Garrick gave the boy a presentation copy of the work. The following year, Garrick gave Rackett a folio copy of Shakespeare with a laudatory inscription. Here, Garrick thanks Rackett for a "noble" Christmas present: "I shall have no occasion to trouble my Butcher or poulterer any more...I played Hamlet last Wedenesday & after the play your Father and Mother went home with us to take part of my Chicken...Hamlet was ye most crowded house we ever had & Archer was a more splendid one tho' not quite so profitable..."