LOVELY SET OF MASSINGER'S DRAMATIC WORKS, 1779

MASSINGER, Philip. The Dramatick Works of Philip Massinger… Revised and Corrected, with Notes Critical and Explanatory, by John Monck Mason, Esq. London: for T. Davies, et al., 1779. Four volumes. Octavo, contemporary full tan speckled calf rebacked, gilt-decorated spines, red and green morocco labels. $600.

1779 edition of Massinger's dramatic works, in handsome contemporary calf bindings.

Philip Massinger was the principal dramatist after 1625 for Shakespeare’s company, the King’s Men. He was a gifted deviser of plots and a fluent maker of dialogue, but he was most interesting for “the audacity with which he represented controversial political and religious opinions on the stage… Characteristically, Massinger found his story in the intrigues and scandals of his times” (Ruoff, 278-79). This edition includes his most famous play, A New Way to Pay Old Debts, based on the career of the real-life usurer Sir Giles Mompesson, and sixteen other plays. Prefaced with an essay “On the Old English Dramatic Writers,” dedicated to the Shakespearean actor David Garrick, and an essay on Massinger’s life and writings, dedicated “to Dr. S. Johnson.” Only occasional pencil marginalia.

Text clean and bright. Expert restoration to corners of contemporary bindings. A very handsome set.