The Charcoal Burner, Or, The Dropping Well of Knaresborough, A Drama in Two Acts

Not dated but likely late 1833. With engraved frontispiece illustration. Contemporary binding, quarter bound in leather over card boards (heavily worn and scuffed). In later bespoke, cloth covered slipcase with gilt lettering on spine (slipcase just a little rubbed on corners). Reference library label on front paste down, previous owner’s name on front free endpaper, some mild marks and rusting on endpapers, pages strong and robust but a little age toned; binding firm, gutter ahead of rear endpapers cracked. Printed from the acting copy with remarks, biographical and critical, to which is added a description of the costume, cast of characters, entrances and exits and the whole of the stage business. George Almar was a popular actor, comedian and playwright of the early 19th century credited with over 30 melodramatic and romantic plays, some of which, like this one, had enduring popularity. The Charcoal Burner is a play of the industrial revolution, concerned with the plight of the labouring classes, the hidden heart of man and just vengeance in the face of a legal system incapable of justice. But it is overall a crime story, with three murders, with Almar’s chosen setting, the Forest of Knaresborough, well-known to contemporary audiences as the home of the soothsayer and prophetess, Mother Shipton and as a place of petrification at the Dropping Well. A popular play, first performed at the Surrey Theatre on Boxing Day 1832, it ran through several editions and was included in standards works such as the Boston Theatre Plays and Dicks Standard Plays and was performed in Canada, the USA and Australia. The first edition was published in 1832 with the play in three acts; this was apparently though difficult to stage so the play was modified to two acts only. This early edition published by Davidson in London in the 1830s and is scarce. No copies of this edition in OCLO or LHD. Small 16mo.