THE WILD GALLANT: A COMEDY

London: Printed by Tho. Newcomb, for H. Herringman, 1669. FIRST EDITION. 216 x 160 mm. (8 1/2 x 6 1/4"). [8], 48, 57-78, [2] pp. (with pagination errors, but complete).
Attractive 20th century blue half morocco over marbled boards, smooth spine, gilt titling. With small ink stamp of the Selbourne Library on verso of title and one other leaf. Macdonald 72a; ESTC R31381. See: Hume, "The Development of English Drama in the Seventeenth Century," p. 243. ◆Faint browning throughout (though mild relative to other copies of Restoration literature), small dampstains here and there, but no severe condition issues, and on the whole an excellent copy internally in a lustrous and virtually unworn binding.

This is a rare copy of the first edition of Dryden's first play, a comedy, which was first staged in 1663. Hume notes that it "has often been seized on as an important prototype, especially for its low and sexual humour and its relatively realistic London love plot." Scholars have noted that the play is largely derivative of Spanish melodramas of the period, and borrows from the work of the Caroline dramatist Richard Brome; however, it still contains some memorable plot elements, such as Lord Nonsuch's belief that the Devil impregnated him, and Lady Constance's plan to dress up as the goddess Fortune in order to snare her lover into matrimony. Although Dryden had already earned esteem as a poet by the time he ventured into playwriting, his theatrical debut was not a success; as DNB relates, "Dryden's naïvety in matters of dissipation was apparent, and Pepys commented that: 'it was ill acted and the play so poor a thing as I never saw in my life almost, and so little answering the name, that from beginning to end I could not, nor can at this time, tell certainly which was the wild gallant.'" Our copy once belonged to Hugh Selbourne (1906-73), 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. Copies of the first edition of "Wild Gallant" are uncommon in the marketplace..