Index To The London Stage 1660 1800

An index to a calendar of plays, entertainments, and afterpieces together with casts, box-receipts, and contemporary comment. Compiled from the playbills, newspapers and theatrical diaries of the period.

This computerized index to the eleven-volume The London Stage, 1660-1800 (Southern Illinois University Press, 1960-68), makes accessible in one vol­ume all the information about the plays, persons, and places as they appeared in each theatrical performance over the span of 140 years covered by the work. Twenty-five thousand entries contain over 500,000 references to the 8,026 pages of the monumental series. The Index thus provides direction for following the careers of hundreds of ac­tors, actresses, dancers, and musicians in the Restoration and eighteenth century. In addition, the Index demonstrates what a wide-ranging document for so­cial, economic, legal, artistic, and dra­matic history The London Stage, 1660-1800 is. At a glance, the Index points to the variety and richness of a broad range of London life in the period covered as it impinged on, supported, or drew sustenance from the theatres. A research tool of considerable magni­tude, the Index makes available to stu­dents and scholars in a wide range of disciplines the vast resources of The Lon­don Stage, 1660-1800. Without doubt, it is a foundation on which scholars will build for years to come.

This volume, arranged alphabetically by original author, provides basic information about stage and screen productions based upon the novels of 40 women writers before 1900. Each entry includes the novel and its publication date, the published texts or dramatizations based upon the book, and the performances of the piece in live theater and film versions, including the location, dates, and playwright or screenwriter (if there was one). For some of the performances the author includes a brief annotation listing the actors and describing the production.

Volume 16 completes the magisterial Biographical Dictionary which provides information on some 8,500 of the people who contributed to the patent theatres, opera houses, fair booths, concert halls, and pleasure gardens in and around London during the period from 1660 to 1800. The final volume centers on Margaret Woffington, "the most beautiful woman that ever adorned a theatre" (the judgment of Thomas Davies--evidenced by the nine included portraits). Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

CONTENTS.--pt. 2. 1700-1729, edited with a critical introd. by E. L. Avery. 2 v.