1839 Tortesa the Usurer

Description

First Edition, Publishers' Original Binding, Rebound, Very Scarce

The first edition of this vanishingly scarce work.

Original wraps are bound in. 

Part of Colman's dramatic library. 

'Tortesa the Usurer' is a romantic tragi-comedy, following a love triangle between a usurer, a young daughter of a Count, and a painter. 

Written in blank verse, this was a popular play for around a decade after its premier in Philadelphia, at the Walnut Street Theatre, on the 20th June 1839.

Among this plays admirers was Edgar Allan Poe, who called it "by far the best play from the pen of an American author".

Willis was a notable American author of the nineteenth century, writing both prose and poetry. He also worked as an editor, working with various eminent American figures of the day, including Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. During his career, he was the highest paid magazine writer. 

Two pages of adverts to the rear.