Collection Guide
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INVENTORY OF THE PLAYSCRIPTS COLLECTION
P-200
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Table of contents
Title: THE PLAYSCRIPTS COLLECTION
Date (inclusive): 19th and early 20th centuries
Collection number: P-200
Origination:
Extent: 26 linear feet in 26 boxes
Repository:
University of California, Davis. General Library. Dept. of Special Collections.
Davis, California
Shelf location: For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the Special Collections Department.
Language:
English.
The Scripts Collection was created over more than twenty years through purchases from
book dealers. The Department of Special Collections continues to add to this "open"
collection.
Collection is open for research.
The library can only claim physical ownership of the Scripts Collection. Users are
responsible for satisfying any claimants of literary property.
[Identification of item] THE PLAYSCRIPTS COLLECTION, P-200, Department of Special Collections,
General Library, University of California, Davis.
The Scripts
Collection of the Department of Special Collections consists primarily of 19th and early
20th century American and British acting editions. Various genres are included-comedies,
Ethiopian sketches, farces, melodramas, musical comedies, pantomimes, and tragedies,
among others.
The bulk of these items are in their original wrappers representing editions of many
publishers including Baker, DeWitt, Dicks, French, Lacy, Lea, Penn, and Spencer. In
addition, there are some 20th century anthologies and unpublished manuscripts.
Although the vast majority of the scripts are clean copies, there are a few prompt copies
and others that are inscribed with signatures, cast members' names, dates, and textual
markings.
These scripts are acquired to preserve an historical record, to provide samples of
theatrical fare representative of the time and period covered, and to offer unique items
which may be considered primary source material.
The Scripts Collection is an "open" collection with additions sought from donors and
sellers alike. The collection contains in excess of 1600 titles representing approximtely
850 authors.
Authorities used for authors' names are:
English Drama of the Nineteenth Century:
An Index and Finding Guide
, compiled and edited by James Ellis;
Nineteenth-Century American Drama, by Donald L. Hixon and Don A.
Hennessee; and
English Drama 1900-1930, by Allardyce Nicoll.
Related Material
Other collections held in the Department of Special Collections that closely relate to
the Scripts Collection are:
- Breese, Edmund (1871-1936). Papers.
- Ellsler, Effie (Euphemia) (1854-1942). Papers.
- Hanley, Joseph G. (1828-1869). Papers.
- Moffat, Margaret (1882-1942). Papers.
- Placide, Henry (c. 1750-1872). Papers.
- Smith, William Henry Sedley (1806-1872). Papers.
- Warde, Frederick Barkham (1851-1935). Papers.
- Wood, William Burke (1779-1861). Papers.