[Rarebooks] OFFER: UNIQUE COMIC ALBUM OF J. FORBES ROBERTSON'S TROOP, TOURING NORTH AMERICA.

[Laderman]

BEAUMONT, J.H.: AMERICAN SKETCHES. MORE OR LESS FROM LIFE.  NP, 1904. 
Oblong 4to TP + 27 FP Original comic drawings in pen and ink, of J. Forbes 
Robertson's troupe of English actors on tour in U.S.A. and Canada. Unique! 
Completely professional and quite spirited work, it looks absolutely ready 
for lithographic reproduction. Now and then a faint trace of the original 
pencil under the ink is visible.The company is caricatured in activities 
appropriate to the seasons spring, fall and winter, in a connected series 
following their tour, stop by stop. The actors are identified as "fussy", 
"Old Coff", (Coffersham), "Aubrey", "Polly", and "Scotch". Forbes 
Robertson,  was the lead actor and leader of the troupe. He had a leading 
man's face, tall with a white handle bar moustache and a perpetual tan. He 
was famous in London and had his own company from about 1895 when he began 
to appear under his own management with great success in such classic plays 
as Hamlet, which was a triumph for him, as well as Romeo and Juliet and 
Macbeth. He also appeared in modern roles such as John Davidson's For the 
Crown and in Maeterlinck's Pelleas and Melisande. In 1900 he married the 
actress Gertrude Elliott, with whom, as his leading lady, he appeared at 
various theatres, producing in subsequent years. I believe she is hidden 
under one of the nicknames here, as well. In subsequent years, they 
appeared together in The Light that Failed, Madeleine Lucette Rileys Mice 
and Men, and G. Bernard Shaws Caesar and Cleopatra, Jerome K. Jeromes 
Passing of the Third Floor Back, &c.  On this tour, Cities visited included 
Niagara, Buffalo, Providence, Montreal, Detroit, Cincinnati and Cleveland. 
Subjects of cartoons include  golf, photography, a magician "The Great 
Malin", a Firehouse, The effect of a nude painting on the troupe[comic 
mayhem ensues]. There is a long sequence of winter scenes in 
Montreal,  Beaumont is obviously one of the actors, but he could easily 
have been an editorial or comic strip cartoonist. A unique theatrical 
record and a high spirited one. The last scene shows them home again, 
sprinting for English grub: "Chops, Steaks, Ales." About Fine in Original 
cloth $3275.00

P.S. If this seems familiar, it is. I have had it for a while, but just 
worked out who J. Forbes Robertson was, and rewrote the description. I knew 
it was a oner, but it is a better oner than, I, at first, knew. Twentyseven 
pages of caricatures of one of the premier English troupes with one of the 
great turn of the century leading men as the boss, is better than "just a 
cartoon album."
Yes, I do make mistakes, all the time, but no one caught me on this one.

ZITA BOOKS / NEW YORK, N.Y. / G. LADERMAN
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telephone: 212-866-4715  email:zita at speakeasy.net

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