(THEATRE) BOUCICAULT DION The Octoroon or Life in Louisiana

Sale 2239 - Lot 494

Price Realized: $ 1,800

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500

A VERY EARLY LONDON PRODUCTION (THEATRE.) BOUCICAULT, DION. The Octoroon, or Life in Louisiana. Letterpress broadside poster, 14-3/4x9-3/4 inches; paper evenly toned, an early damp-stain at the bottom of the poster; some unevenness to the right margin. London, 1863

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A very early production of Dion Boucicault's (1820-1890) hit play, advertised together with another Victorian smash hit, "Lady Audsley's Secret" (by Mary Braddon). The Octoroon Premiered in New York in 1859, and is considered by many to be as influential and important in the literature of anti-slavery as Uncle Tom's Cabin. The plot revolves around a young lady named Miss Zoe Winchester, the daughter of a wealthy Southern planter. While away at school in Boston, she receives word of her father's sudden death. Upon returning, an examination into her father's affairs reveals that Zoe is actually the daughter of a "quadroon." The Octoroon used spectacular theatrical effects such as a slave auction, an exploding river boat, and the revolutionary device of photography to solve a crime. In many ways, Boucicault ushered in an era of modern theatre. Phillis Hartnoll (Oxford Companion to the Theatre, 1972) credits Boucicault with being "the first dramatist to treat the American Negro seriously on the stage."