One Hundred and Thirty-Seven Neglected English Play Manuscripts in the British Library (c. 1770–1809), Part II

Abstract

The 137 play manuscripts (and some further play fragments) comprising British Library Add. MSS 25,906-26,036 were almost all submitted to Richard Brinsley Sheridan for production at Drury Lane in the period 1776-1809. They were presented to the British Museum in 1864 by Coventry Patmore with many gross misattributions and errors perpetrated by his father, Peter George Patmore. Many of these are still preserved in the British Library catalogue. Allardyce Nicoll failed to record 109 of the plays in his Handlists of English Drama. The collection includes both significant performed work by such playwrights as Inchbald and Reynolds and much unproducible work from anonymous and unknown writers. Some manuscripts contain projected cast lists and evidence of managerial editing. The present article attempts to describe the plays, to identify those printed or performed, and to augment and correct the British Library catalogue descriptions.