VERMONT

The four items present here are the prompt books for performances of Shakespeare plays by the 'Young Ladies of the University of Vermont', under the direction of New York actor Ernest Elton. BACKGROUND: Professor George B. Bryan, in a 'History of Theatre at the University of Vermont' writes that around the turn of the century 'The women students launched their own dramatic activities. If the men could stage their frivolities at the Howard Opera House, the ladies would perform classical plays on the lawn of Grasse Mount.

vi + 229 + [1]pp., 8vo. Frontispiece facsimile letter from Benjamin Franklin. In original printed wraps. In blue cloth binding with title in gilt on front cover and spine. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in worn binding. Full title: 'Stevens' Historical Collections.

18 + [1]pp., 8vo. In red cloth half-binding, with brown marbled boards. Stamp of the Royal Historical Society on endpaper, and pencil shelfmarks. In fair condition, aged and worn. A curious production. The intent of the author (certainly Stevens) is to facilitate 'definite and permanent organisation', by his 'preparation of an Index of all the documents of American concern in private or public Archives of Great Britain, Holland, France and Spain that accumulated between the years 1763 and 1783'.

Not paginated. [107]pp., 16mo. Internally good and tight, elegantly printed in red and black. In original heavily-worn green leather binding. Small leaf, printed on both sides, advertising the book, loosely inserted. In the twenty-two lines on the reverse Stevens states that 'The price of all these books in substantial andn ornamental bindings of great variety, with leather, calf, morocco or russia backs and corners, and muslin on paper sides, is Four Hundred Guineas (420l.) If with full leather backs and sides, very handsome, the price is Four Hundred and Fifty Guineas (472l. 10s.)'.

32mo, 36 pp. Unpaginated. In original blue cloth, with gilt design on front. Marbled endpapers. Unopened. Good. Nicely printed, in small type. Two-page introduction, 'To the inquisitive and pertinent reader', by 'Henry Stevens of Vermont'. On the title page Stevens is described as 'GMB FSA ETC | Sometime Student in Yale College in America | now of London'. Leaf of addenda not present. Uncommon, copies on COPAC at the British Library, National Library of Scotland, Oxford, Cambridge, and the V & A and Society of Antiquaries libraries.