THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL

Dublin: Printed for J. Ewling, n.d. [1799?]. 213 x 130 mm. (8 1/2 x 5 1/4"). vi, 93, [3] pp.
Full green levant by Riviere and Son (stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-in), raised bands, two compartments with gilt titling, gilt-ruled turn-ins. Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of Charles Lilburn; with two old catalogue descriptions laid-in. Williams, p. 216 (citing it as the first edition); Rothschild 1845; ESTC T762. See Day, "History of English Literature 1660 to 1837," pp. 193-94. ◆Covers detached, spine and edges of covers sunned to brown, corners a bit rubbed, but the contents in excellent condition, with just a hint of toning to title and a couple negligible blemishes elsewhere.

First performed in 1777, this play attacking sentimentalism and scandal-mongers is called by Hazlitt "perhaps the most finished and faultless comedy which we have," and Day praises its "verbal ingenuity and sparkling prose." It is also one of the few 18th century plays that remains popular to the present day. As expected, the play is about love, but the plot is largely generated by the openly malicious machinations of the wonderfully named Lady Sneerwell, whose calumny not only furthers her matrimonial goals, but also simply gives her pleasure as the source of ignominy in others. As DNB observes, Sheridan's "comic invention exposes folly and hypocrisy through dramatic crises in a timeless way, and this has meant [his] plays remain alive." After a brilliant career as playwright and theatrical manager at Drury Lane, Sheridan (1751-1816) occupied a major place in the political landscape of the day in Parliament and later as Undersecretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury. And Day tells us that he was such a close confidant of the Prince of Wales that he wrote love letters for him. The present edition was long believed to be the first (and, in fact, one of the laid-in catalogue descriptions here advertises it as such), but it is now thought to be a later printing. ESTC notes that the BL catalogue proposes a date of 1795 for this edition, whereas other sources suggest it was printed in 1799. The Rothschild catalogue adds that this edition (along with the true first edition printed in Dublin and dated 1780) "were both piracies, and differ extensively from the authentic text in the MS copy annotated by Sheridan and presented by him to Mrs Crewe in 1777.".