![[NORTON, Caroline Sheridan (1808-1877). – BECKFORD, William Thomas (1760-1844)]. Manuscript, entitled “Vathek,” being a working draft of a play, [London, c.1832-36].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/NYR/2017_NYR_14998_0129_000(norton_caroline_sheridan_beckford_william_thomas_manuscript_entitled_v100256).jpg?w=1)
細節
[NORTON, Caroline Sheridan (1808-1877). – BECKFORD, William Thomas (1760-1844)]. Manuscript, entitled “Vathek,” being a working draft of a play, [London, c.1832-36].
134 leaves, 321 x 200mm, rectos only, being title, dramatis personae, and the play with act and scene divisions marked but not numbered, in a scribal hand with several neat revisions in another hand, paper watermarked 1832. In original vellum boards with stationer’s label of E. Tarbox of Leicester Square, upper cover titled “Vathek” in manuscript (minor soiling to binding), overall excellent and legible condition. Provenance: with Sterling Books, Avon (enclosed letter) – sold at Sotheby’s 19 November 1974, lot 415, to – Robert J. Gemmett (scholar and bibliographer of William Beckford).
A complete manuscript attributed to Caroline Norton, being an adaptation of Beckford’s most famous novel with important interpretations and dramatic additions. William Beckford’s Gothic novel Vathek, 1786, is a touchstone of English Romanticism. Its spectacular imagery inspired dramatic and musical adaptations in its day and it remains an important inspiration in the fantasy genre. Caroline Sheridan Norton, the novelist and women’s rights activist, is known to have written two plays: The Gypsy Father, performed in 1831 at Covent Garden; and Vathek written before 1836 and never performed. Knowledge of its existence stems from her correspondence with Alfred Bunn, manager of the Drury Lane Theatre. Bunn declined the play, giving his opinion later that, though he felt “the exquisite beauties of Mrs. Norton’s metrical compositions,” the play was too difficult to stage: “a little more knowledge of the circumscription of stage rules, or stage necessities, would have rendered [Vathek] as fascinating as all her other productions” (Bunn, The Stage both Before and Behind the Curtain, 1840, pp 268-9). Additionally, there are several instances of metaphors and language used in this play that echo Caroline Norton’s poetry. The manuscript follows the central theme and main plot line of Beckford’s novel, but there are new incidents and characters added. Most significantly from the point of view of female authorship is the invention of the character Perizade to supplant Vathek’s object of infatuation, Nouronihar. Perizade is a virtuous maiden who is bewitched into loving Vathek by the wicked Giaour but is saved from the Halls of Fire thus giving the play a happy ending. Another major innovation is a spectacular beginning in which the Giaour and a cohort of gnomes break free from the underworld. For a detailed analysis, see Gemmett, "The Lost Manuscript of Caroline Norton's Vathek," Notes and Queries, Oxford Univ. Press, March 2017, 86-95.
134 leaves, 321 x 200mm, rectos only, being title, dramatis personae, and the play with act and scene divisions marked but not numbered, in a scribal hand with several neat revisions in another hand, paper watermarked 1832. In original vellum boards with stationer’s label of E. Tarbox of Leicester Square, upper cover titled “Vathek” in manuscript (minor soiling to binding), overall excellent and legible condition. Provenance: with Sterling Books, Avon (enclosed letter) – sold at Sotheby’s 19 November 1974, lot 415, to – Robert J. Gemmett (scholar and bibliographer of William Beckford).
A complete manuscript attributed to Caroline Norton, being an adaptation of Beckford’s most famous novel with important interpretations and dramatic additions. William Beckford’s Gothic novel Vathek, 1786, is a touchstone of English Romanticism. Its spectacular imagery inspired dramatic and musical adaptations in its day and it remains an important inspiration in the fantasy genre. Caroline Sheridan Norton, the novelist and women’s rights activist, is known to have written two plays: The Gypsy Father, performed in 1831 at Covent Garden; and Vathek written before 1836 and never performed. Knowledge of its existence stems from her correspondence with Alfred Bunn, manager of the Drury Lane Theatre. Bunn declined the play, giving his opinion later that, though he felt “the exquisite beauties of Mrs. Norton’s metrical compositions,” the play was too difficult to stage: “a little more knowledge of the circumscription of stage rules, or stage necessities, would have rendered [Vathek] as fascinating as all her other productions” (Bunn, The Stage both Before and Behind the Curtain, 1840, pp 268-9). Additionally, there are several instances of metaphors and language used in this play that echo Caroline Norton’s poetry. The manuscript follows the central theme and main plot line of Beckford’s novel, but there are new incidents and characters added. Most significantly from the point of view of female authorship is the invention of the character Perizade to supplant Vathek’s object of infatuation, Nouronihar. Perizade is a virtuous maiden who is bewitched into loving Vathek by the wicked Giaour but is saved from the Halls of Fire thus giving the play a happy ending. Another major innovation is a spectacular beginning in which the Giaour and a cohort of gnomes break free from the underworld. For a detailed analysis, see Gemmett, "The Lost Manuscript of Caroline Norton's Vathek," Notes and Queries, Oxford Univ. Press, March 2017, 86-95.