?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 5,000
Webster, John (c. 1580-c. 1632) The White Devil, or the Tragedy of Paulo Giordano Ursini, Duke of Brachiano.
London: Printed by J[ohn] N[orton] for Hugh Perry, 1631.
Second edition, quarto, water staining; varying degrees of worming to top inch throughout; bound in 19th century half calf and marbled paper boards; 7 3/8 x 5 in.
The first edition, published in 1612 under the title, The White Divel, is extremely rare on the market. Webster was a contemporary of Shakespeare whose exact dates are unknown. He wrote plays with Drayton, Dekker, Middleton, and Munday. The White Devil, one of his well-regarded tragedies, was inspired by the true crime story of Vittoria Accoramboni, an Italian woman who married into the family of Pope Sixtus V. As a result of court intrigue ensuing from the suspected murder of Isabella de' Medici, Accoramboni was murdered in 1585 at the age of twenty-eight. The White Devil was first presented to an unappreciative audience at the Red Bull Theatre in 1612. It found a better fit at the Cockpit Theatre where Queen Henrietta's Men produced a more successful revival in 1630.
STC 25179; Greg I 306 (b); ESTC S119594; rare at auction.
