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Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin, The
London: Published by the Author, at His Music-Warehouse…, 1803. Item #06432
Sixty Aquatint Plates Illustrating Charles Dibdin’s Songs
Delicately Designed, Etched and Hand-Colored by Dibdin’s daughter
DIBDIN, [Charles]. The Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin, Written by Himself. Together with the Words of Six Hundred Songs Selected from His Works, and Sixty Small Prints Taken from the Subjects of the Songs. And Invented, Etched, and Prepared for the Aqua Tinta by Miss Dibdin. Embellished Also with an Elegant Engraving by Mr. Smith, from a Portrait of Mr. Dibdin, a Striking Likeness, and an Admirable Picture Painted by Mr. Devis. In Four Volumes. London: Published by the Author, at His Music-Warehouse…And may be had of Longman and Rees…, 1803.
First edition. Four octavo volumes (8 3/16 x 5 1/8 inches; 208 x 130 mm.). xxv, [1, blank], 229, [1, printer’s imprint], [5, index], [1, blank]; [2], 303, [1, blank], [7, index], [1, blank]; [2], 387, [1, blank], [7, index], [1, blank]; [2], 328, [8, index] pp. Volumes II-IV bound without half-titles. Added engraved title in Volume I with hand-colored portrait by Mr. Smith after Mr. Devis and sixty circular hand-colored aquatint plates.
Early to mid twentieth-century full tan scored calf by Bayntun of Bath (stamp-signed on the verso of the front free endpaper). Expertly rebacked, with original spines laid down. Covers decoratively bordered in gilt and blind, spines decoratively tooled in gilt in compartments with maroon morocco gilt lettering labels, board edges and turn-ins decoratively tooled in gilt, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers. An excellent copy of this very rare color-plate book.
A lively and highly important account of Georgian theatrical and musical life by “our great sea-song writer,” whose patriotic songs - Tom Bowling, Poor Jack, and others - became synonymous with the British naval spirit during the Napoleonic era. More than a memoir, the work preserves the words of some 600 songs and offers a vivid, firsthand record of the late eighteenth-century stage.
Particularly appealing are the sixty charming circular aquatint plates, delicately hand-colored and designed and etched by Miss Ann Dibdin, his daughter, a rare early example of female participation in English color-plate production. These small scenes of sailors, taverns, and domestic life - perfectly complement the tone of the songs and give the work a distinctive visual character.
Rare: OCLC/RLIN locate just six copies in libraries and institutions worldwide: University of Illinois (IL, USA); University of Miami (FL, USA); Toronto Public Library, (ON, CA); British Library (UK); University of Aberdeen (Scotland); Bibliotheque Nationale de France (France).
Charles Dibdin (1745-1814), “our great sea-song writer. In addition to his musical gifts he possessed considerable as a comedian, and was also a successful dramatic writer” (English Theatrical Literature).
Song-writer, dramatist, and actor Charles Dibdin (Dibdin the elder) “is best known for his popular songs about the sea and his dramatic monologues. He also wrote an autobiography, The Professional Life of Mr Dibdin (1803), which contains interesting details about life in the theatre at the time and which includes transcriptions of 600 fashionable songs. One of his sons followed him into the world of entertainment, Charles Dibdin (1768-1833), who became a dramatist. His nephew Thomas Dibdin was the renowned bibliographer” (Marion Wynne-Davies, Dictionary of English Literature)
Abbey, Life , 413; English Theatrical Literature 2677.
Price: $4,500.00