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In this carefully researched work, Gerald Kahan traces the genesis, development, and production history of a delightful and important eighteenth-century theatre piece, The Lecture on Heads. The Lecture was first presented in London in 1764 and became a staple in the English-speaking theaters of the world for the remainder of the eighteenth century. It amassed a fortune for its creator, George Alexander Stevens, was copied and adapted by dozens of performers, and went through forty published editions, authentic and spurious. Kahan studies the theatrical and cultural backgrounds that influenced the contents, development, and popularity of the Lecture. His exhaustive research has produced the most comprehensive and accurate published account of Stevens's life and career as well as a bibliography of his works. In addition, readers will find one of the earliest printed texts of the Lecture and a scholarly chronological listing of hundreds of its performances and many of its variations, including information on dates, cities, theaters, actors, ticket prices, and critical reviews.
The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. Western literary study flows out of eighteenth-century works by Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Frances B...
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