DON SEBASTIAN, KING OF PORTUGAL de DRYDEN, JOHN - 1690

London: Printed for Jo. Hindmarsh, 1690. FIRST EDITION. 217 x 170 mm. (8 1/2 x 6 3/4"). 8 p.l., 87, 96-132, [4] pp. (complete).
Very fine dark green morocco by Lortic (stamped in gilt on front turn-in), covers with gilt coat of arms of the Comte de Penha Longa (with the motto 'Superabo'), raised bands, gilt titling, thick gilt turn-ins with multiple rules and decorative rolls, all edges gilt. Front pastedown with the book label of Marion C. Walker; verso of title and one other leaf with small ink stamp of the Selbourne Library; a couple of marginal pencil notations. Macdonald 89a; ESTC R16736; Pforzheimer 322. ◆Probably washed at the time of binding, faint browning and vague mottling due to paper quality, otherwise an especially fine copy, the text entirely clean, and the lustrous binding in virtually perfection condition.

Esteemed by the Oxford Companion as "Dryden's most complex dramatic treatment of a number of important political, sexual, and religious themes," this tragicomedy involves various captures, reprieves, deaths, and, most notably, a renouncement of marriage vows at the end when the title character and his wife discover that their wedlock has been incestuous. It is of political pertinence that this was the author's first play to be written and staged after the Glorious Revolution (1688-89). As a Catholic convert, Dryden refused to pledge allegiance to the newly crowned Protestant William and Mary, and paid dearly for it--he was subsequently relieved of all appointments, including the title of poet laurate. "Don Sebastian" certainly ranks as one of Dryden's longest plays, but was successful in its day as "a powerful drama whose themes of friendship, loyalty, true kingship, and love thwarted by destiny carried contemporary resonances." (DNB) This is an especially nice copy, offered in an appealing binding. It is no surprise then that it once belonged to Hugh Selbourne (1906-73) was a respected Manchester physician and a passionate bibliophile with a notable library strong in the sciences. He was the owner of virtually all of Robert Boyle's works, and his care in choosing copies is reflected in the fact that his first printing of "The Sceptical Chymist" sold at Bonham's in 2015 for a remarkable £362,500..