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Life of an Actor, The
London: Printed for C.S. Arnold, 1825. Item #06526
“The Life of an Actor” - Theatrical Life in the Age of Kean
Pierce Egan’s Celebrated Portrait of the Stage, Richly Illustrated
EGAN, Pierce. The Life of an Actor… Dedicated to Edmund Kean, Esq. The Poetical Descriptions by T. Greenwood. Embellished with Twenty-Seven Characteristic Scenes, Etched by Theodore Lane. Enriched also With Several Original Designs on Wood, Executed by Mr. Thompson. London: Printed for C.S. Arnold, 1825.
First edition. Octavo (9 1/4 x 5 5/8 inches; 235 x 143 mm.). xvi, 272 pp. Twenty-seven aquatints with original hand-coloring. Nine text woodcuts. Frontispiece and title-page browned, some light soiling and few plates with light staining on fore-edge.
Contemporary three-quarter tan calf over marbled boards, marbled endpapers and edges, spine and corners rubbed. Neat ink name on front blank. A good copy only.
A vivid and entertaining account of theatrical life in the early nineteenth century, this work by Pierce Egan - best known for Life in London - offers a spirited portrait of the actor’s profession at the height of the Regency stage. Dedicated to the great tragedian Edmund Kean, the book captures both the glamour and the precarious realities of theatrical existence, blending anecdote, satire, and moral reflection in Egan’s characteristically lively style.
The illustrations are central to the work’s appeal. The twenty-seven hand-colored aquatints by Theodore Lane provide a sequence of theatrical scenes and character studies, rendered with humor and dramatic flair, while the woodcut illustrations - executed by John Thompson - add further richness and visual texture throughout the text. Thompson, later regarded as one of the finest practitioners of wood engraving, was, as Abbey observed, “perhaps the ablest exponent of the style,” and his work here represents an early and highly desirable example of his craft.
Part biography, part satire, and part theatrical miscellany, The Life of an Actor belongs to the great tradition of Regency sporting and theatrical literature, and stands as a companion in spirit to Egan’s more famous productions.
The woodcut engravings by John Thompson (1785-1866) are highly esteemed. Of Thompson, Abbey asserted, "...perhaps the ablest exponent of the style of wood-engraving; he cut, in 1839, Mulready's design for the penny postage envelope, and in 1852 designed the figure of Britannia still in use on Bank of England notes" (Abbey).
Abbey, Life 414; Bobins IV, 1336; Prideaux. p. 308; Tooley 195.
Price: $650.00