Fielding, his Publishers, and John Rich in 1730

Abstract

Henry Fielding'sRape Upon Rape, only a modest success when first staged at the Haymarket in summer of 1730, was produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields in December of the same year under the revised title ofThe Coffee-House Politician. Several scholars have noted this revival in passing, but they have ignored or misunderstood the significance of this little episode in Fielding's dramatic career. Two questions are worth attention. What does the complicated bibliographical history of his plays suggest about Fielding's relationship with his publishers at this early date? And why did Fielding take this play to John Rich, a champion of the pantomime Fielding had himself ridiculed inThe Author's Farce(March, 1730)? Investigating these issues casts some interesting light on the exigencies of the first phase of Fielding's theatrical career.