Original broadside for the Royal Princess's Theatre, 1852

London: The Royal Princess' Theatre, 1852. Vintage broadside for a series of performances at the Royal Princess's Theatre, Saturday, December 11, 1852, including Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night, or What You Will," Samuel Birch's 1825 musical drama "The Adopted Child," and John Poole's 1833 play "Deaf as a Post: A Farce, in One Act," two of which are noted as the first of four farewell performances by British stage comedian and actor George Bartley. With a manuscript ink annotation of a gift inscription on the bottom right.

Named for Princess Victoria before her accession as queen, the Royal Princess's Theatre opened in 1836 on Oxford Street in London on the previous location of the "Queen's Bazaar," a gallery which opened in 1828 and housed paintings and a moving diorama by the celebrated British painter Clarkson Frederick Stanfield and David Roberts. The theatre was most celebrated for its renowned productions of Shakespearean revivals under the management of the noted actor Charles John Kean (1849-1860), boldly noted on the broadside just beneath the title block.

The first announcement on the broadside is the final four nights of performances by Bartley, performing in two of the evening's plays, as well as two the following Monday, one Wednesday, and ending with "Mr. Bartley's Farewell Benefit under the Patronage of Her Majesty and H.R.H. Prince Albert, on Saturday, 18th Dec., that Day being the 50th Anniversary of his First Appearance in London."

The broadside also announces upcoming performances of John Westland Marston's 1852 melodrama "Anne Blake," (The Royal Princess Theatre's house dramatist) Dion Boucicault's 1852 melodrama "The Corsican Brothers; or, the Fatal Duel," based on the 1844 novella by Alexandre Dumas, as well as Shakespeare's comedy "Much Ado About Nothing," Thomas Haynes Bayly's 1847 play "The Spitalfields Weaver," Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor," and James Kenney's 1823 play "Sweehearts and Wives."

Broadsides, 19.5 x 20 inches, mounted onto a 20.75 x 22 inch board. Very Good, with edgewear, toning, and creasing commensurate with age, with the top left portion reattached. Board with edgewear and pinholes to the corners.