Rare Books and Manuscripts Toy Theater Webb Skelt MazeppaYale Center for British Art, Gift of Hans P. Kraus
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Related Content:
View a selection of digital images in the Yale Center for British Art's online catalogue
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/orbis:14596663
Classification:
Three-Dimensional Artifacts
Notes:
Juvenile drama emerged in England soon after 1800, forming itself from the adult drama of the time. The plays were adapted from their original stage version into a miniature toy version with actors, costumes and scenery intended for a juvenile audience. Characters and scenes were intended to be cut out and dramatized.Mazeppa was first performed at Coburg in 1823.The publisher M. & M. Skelt was active from 1837-1840. See Speaight.Description based on the copy at the Yale Center for British Art, which lacks the booklet (presumably 22 pages). Mazeppa is a dramatization of Lord Byron's poem.Speaight, G. History of the English toy theatre, pages 193-194, 209BAC: British Art Center copy is incomplete: lacks the booklet (22 pages) and no. 10 of 14 plates of scenery. The sheets of characters and wings are uncut. Uncolored.
Subject Terms:
Ballads, English -- Juvenile drama. | Children's plays, English.
Form/Genre:
Plays. | Toy theaters. | Lithographs -- 1837-1840.
Contributors:
Adaption of (work): Milner, H. M. Henry M. Mazeppa. | Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788–1824. Mazeppa. | M. & M. Skelt (Firm), publisher.
