Grecian Daughter, The.
From Emma Hamilton’s Library
Signed by a Host of Great Actresses
[Hamilton, Emma]. Murphy, Arthur. The Grecian Daughter. A Tragedy. Marked with Variations in the Manager’s Books at the Theatre-Royal in Drury Lane. London…: Printed for T. and W. Lowndes…, 1784.
8vo.; scattered foxing; endpapers offset; marbled endpapers; gutters repaired; t.e.g.; full brown calf; raised bands; stamped in gilt; lightly rubbed. In a specially made quarter-morocco slipcase.
An early edition of this verse drama with a frontispiece engraving of famed tragedian Sarah Kemble Siddons in the role of Euphrasia. The Grecian Daughter was first published in London in 1772 by W. Griffin; it appears T. and W. Lowndes published at least three editions after that date, in 1777, 1783, and 1784. The London publisher J. Cumberland also published several editions up until the early 1830s. OCLC locates one copy of this edition, at Cornell.
A scarce volume from the library of Emma Hamilton, amateur actress and professional siren; and a stellar autographed copy – and a well-traveled book – signed, over time, by fourteen stage and screen actresses on the title page and its verso. There are five signatures on the title page, in various locations and in varying shades of brown ink: “Napoli 10 Ottobre 1799/Emma Hamilton”; “Rachel”; “Mars”; E. Duse/Aprile 99”; “Ellen Terry”; “Sarah Bernhardt”. The signors represent at least five countries: France, England, Spain, Italy and Russia. Nine signatures—in various blues and blacks, all acquired much later—appear on the verso: “Rachel [ ]”; “Madeleine Renaud”; “Emma Gramatica”; “Marie Bell”; “Diana Torrieri”; “Evi Maltagliati”; “Margarita Xirgu”; “Berta Singerman”; and “Maria Casares.” There is also a signature on the first blank, of “JL Barrault” – Jean-Louis Barrault – who was a French actor, director and producer, and who was married to the Madeleine Renaud from 1940 to 1994, when he died.
Affixed to the second rear endpaper are two brief newspaper clippings, in Spanish. The first is a transcription of a letter Victor Hugo sent to Sarah Bernhardt, about her role in his play, Hernani. The second clipping is a transcription of a love letter that Captain Horatio Nelson sent to Emma Hamilton right before his death after the Battle of Trafalgar.
***
Books from Emma Hamilton’s library are exceedingly rare; only two others are traceable in commerce; these were handled by Maggs Rare Books in London.
Hamilton (1765-1815) was, in her youth, a social celebrity and an artist’s model, and she became the paramour of naval hero Captain Horatio Nelson and his political accomplice during a diplomatic mission to Naples in the 1790s. In her early teens she was already known for her good looks and her spirited disposition, and by age thirteen was working as a housemaid for a man named Thomas Linley who was involved in musical theatre, where it is believed she developed a talent for singing. When she left the Linley household, it is rumored that she worked as a scantily dressed attendant at a quack medical establishment, where infertile couples paid to use a “celestial bed” to attempt to conceive children.
In 1781, Hamilton met Sir Harry Fetherstonhaugh, and he took her as his mistress, installing her in a cottage on the grounds of his country estate. The following year they had a daughter, “Little Emma.” Fetherstonhaugh grew tired of Hamilton and passed her along to his friend, the Hon. Charles Francis Greville, a patron of the arts, and through whom Hamilton met the artists Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Lawrence, John Hoppner and Angelica Kauffman. Though their relationship was harmonious, Greville also passed Hamilton along to a different man. In 1784, his dwindling finances and a serendipitous visit from his wealthy uncle, Sir William Hamilton, prompted Greville to arrange – without Hamilton’s knowledge – a trip for her to visit his uncle in Naples, where he acted as the British ambassador to that city.
Print Inquire
