The book or script of a musical refers to the story, character development and dramatic structure, including the spoken dialogue and stage directions, but it can also refer to the dialogue and lyrics together, which are sometimes referred to as the libretto (Italian for “little book“).
Recommended Books
The Poems of James Grahame, John Logan and William Falconer. 1823.
£40.00GRAHAM, James. The Poems of James Grahame, John Logan and William Falconer. Engraved frontispiece depicting James Grahame. 12mo (size). Edinburgh: John Anderson, Jun, 1823.
Introduction to the Literature of Europe… 1847.
£175.00HALLAM, Henry. Introduction to the Literature of Europe, In the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries. 3 volumes. PROVENANCE: John F. Matthews (armorial bookplate to front pastedowns). Larger 8vo. London: John Murray, 1847.
Shelley & His Poetry. 1911.
£20.00EDMUNDS, E.W. Shelley & His Poetry. N.B. This book is not a collection of Shelley’s poetry but features some of his poetry with the author’s analysis, commentary and context. 8vo. London: George G. Harrap & Company, 1911.
The History of England In Verse. [1876].
£25.00MONTEFIORE, J. Gompertz. The History of England In Verse. PRESENTATION COPY: Inscribed as: “With the author’s kind regards”. N.B. This book is of the 19th century, and is of its time. It also might not be accurate in the 21st century! 8vo. London: Ward, Lock and Tyler, [no date c. 1876].
The Poetical Works of William Cowper. [1830-1831].
£80.00COWPER, William. The Poetical Works of William Cowper. 3 volumes. Frontispiece to volume 1. 8vo. London: William Pickering [1830-1831].
The Tour of Doctor Syntax. [c. 1821]
£270.00COMBE, William (1742-1823). [The Tour of Doctor Syntax] In Search of the Picturesque/Consolation/A Wife. 3 volumes each individually named. Consolation: 24 plates, …Wife: 24 plates + hand coloured engraved title page, Picturesque (spine labelled as ‘lakes’), 31 plates. General Interior: some pages detached, occasional closed tearing and a few historic repairs to blank margins, a number of the plates have been trimmed to fit the binding- including loss to titles under plates, pages age toned, sporadic spotting, foxing, light browning and some old paper repairs to pages in places. Exterior: Contemporary green half calf with marbled boards (worn). 8vo. …Mixed editions: Picturesque: Fourth Edition, London: Ackerman 1813, …Consolation: London- Ackerman, 1820, …Wife: R. Ackerman, [1821- engraved title page trimmed with loss to date].
£300.00The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood. [c. 1880s]
£27.00The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood. Edited, With a Critical Memoir, by William Michael Rossetti. First Series. 8 plates (trimming with loss to headings). Xxxi, [1], 400, [16pp. adverts] pp. Interior: Pages age toned, occasional spotting and foxing. Exterior: Contemporary red calf with pebbled boards (light wear). 8vo. London: Ward, Lock, and Co., [c.1880s].
£30.00Essay on Irish Bulls. 1802.
£85.50EDGEWORTH, Maria; Richard Lovell Edgeworth. Essay on Irish Bulls. FIRST EDITION. [4], 316 pp. Interior: No half title, sporadic staining in places, worn hole puncture mark to bottom blank margin, piercing same place on pages throughout, worming to lower blank margins on last ten pages, pages age toned, occasional spotting/foxing. Otherwise good. Exterior: full contemporary calf (worn, rubbed corners bumped), spine re-backed (a while ago). 8vo. London: J. Johnson, 1802.
£95.00Poems. 1926.
£27.00QUENNELL, Peter. Poems. Interior: Browning to a few pages, sporadic foxing/spotting. Binding: Publisher’s blue quarter cloth with marbled boards (light wear, wear to corners). LIMITED EDITION OF 60 COPIES SIGNED BY PETER QUENNELL OF WHICH THIS IS NUMBER 11. Peter Quennell (1905-93) was the son of authors C.H.B. and Marjorie Quennell. He was an English biographer, literary historian, editor, essayist, poet, and critic. He wrote extensively on social history. 4to. (Size) London: Chatto & Windus, 1926.
£30.00An Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope. 1806.
£45.00WARTON, Joseph (1722-1800). An Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope. 2 volumes. Frontispiece to both volumes, MS plate (depicting handwriting). Interior: pages age toned, staining to frontispieces, paste-downs and endpapers, trimming to frontispieces (with minor loss), pp. 311-314 (volume 2) trimmed with loss to a few lines of text and a few catchwords. Binding: Contemporary calf (worn, corners bumped). 8vo. London: W.J. & J. Richardson, 1806.
£50.00Scottish Border Life A Series of Original Sketches. 1897.
£27.00DIBDIN, James C. (1856-1901). Scottish Border Life A Series of Original Sketches. (Sporadic light spotting). Publisher’s red and green pictorial cloth (faded, rubbed). Some pages uncut. 8vo. London: Methuen and Co., 1897.
£30.00The Cinder Path. 2009.
£13.50SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. MOTION, Andrew (1952-) The Cinder Path. (text clean and bright). Publisher’s blue boards (light wear) with purple pictorial dust-wrapper (creasing to rear panel of jacket and light wear). 8vo. London: Faber & Faber, 2009.
£15.00A Literary Chronicle of Half A Century. 1888.
£49.50PRESENTATION COPY to publisher Thomas Norton Longman. FRANCIS, John C. John Francis Publisher of The Athenaeum: A Literary Chronicle of Half A Century. 2 volumes. Frontispieces to both volumes (frontispiece and opening pages of volume 2 detached, occasional light spotting). Publisher’s green cloth, (wear and some tearing, text block splitting in places). 8vo. London: Richard Bentley, 1888.
£55.00The English Garden: A Poem. 1812.
£90.00Charming early 19th Century Book: The English Garden. Charles Kingsley’s copy (Father of The Water-Babies author??) MASON, William. (1725-97). The English Garden: A Poem. In Four Books. Portrait frontispiece of Rev. W. Mason. (No half title, light spotting/foxing throughout, pages lightly browned). Contemporary red half calf (upper board detached including front-end paper, part of backstrip (spine cover) detached, calf and boards worn). 8vo. London: M. Jones, 1812.
£100.00Les Avantures de la Madona et de François d’ Assise. 1701.
£270.00Satirical Anti-Papist work by a former Franciscan who converted to Calvinism. From the Collection of Giancarlo Beltrame (1925-2011). RENOULT, Jean-Baptise (b. [?]1664). Les Avantures de la Madona et de François d’ Assise. Recueilles de plusieurs ouvrages des Docteurs Romains; Ecrites d’ un stile recreatif; en même temps capable de faire sentir le ridicule du Papisme sans aucune controverse. Small 8vo (145 x 93mm). Additional engraved title, woodcut device on title, head-pieces, initials and ornaments, 9 engraved plates, errata leaf (engraved title shaved, some very light spotting and staining, minor loss to blank margins in places -without loss to text). Contemporary half vellum (some wear to foot of spine, stained). Provenance: Max Fabrice (modern ex-libris sticker); Doublette (old armorial stamp and blindstamp on title); later German stamp. Amsterdam: Chez Daniel de la Feuille, 1701.
£300.00[Tennyson]. Poems. MDCCCXXX. – MDCCCXXXIII. 1862.
£81.00[TENNYSON, Alfred Lord]. Poems. MDCCCXXX. —-MDCCCXXXIII. Pages uncut (Occasional light spotting and light staining). Original blue wrappers (creasing and light stains to covers). 8vo. [Toronto]: Privately printed, 1862.
£90.00