Item 37 - Letter from G. B. Harrison to W. W. Greg

1 single sheet

King’s College, Strand, London, W.C.2.—Describes a fragment of an Elizabethan play in manuscript owned by Sir Israel Gollancz.

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Transcript

King’s College, Strand, London, W.C.2
22d November 1931.

Dear Dr Greg,

I have just been reading Elizabethan Dramatic Documents with great interest. Did you know that Sir Israel Gollancz, some four weeks before his death {1}, secured a fragment of an Elizabethan play in manuscript? It consisted of a single sheet of paper, about 10" x 6", folded into two leaves. The writing was on both sides, in an Italian script (I believe), & was part of a Dialogue between some Oriental personages in the Tamburlaine style. It was not, apparently, part of any known play, but in style seemed to date about 1588–1594. The lines seemed to me to have been prepared as a literary text, except that instead of being written in the usual way, the book had been made to open sideways. If it had been prepared as an actor’s part this would have been a convenient arrangement enabling him to hold the book & turn over with the left hand, leaving the right free for sawing the air. There were, I believe, no cues; nor was the page thumbed in the middle as would be natural in a book much handled. These details are not wholly reliable: I only saw the ms. for a few minutes & a long time ago.

Sir Israel may have shown it to you; but he seemed to be keeping it secret at the time. Anyhow, it is worth noting as one more of the collection of Eliz. dramatic documents.

Yours very sincerely
G. B. Harrison

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Letter-head of the Shakespeare Association.

{1} Gollancz died on 23 June 1930.

Formerly inserted in Greg's copy of Dramatic Documents from the Elizabethan Playhouses (1931) (LL 023 G 101).

This description was created by A. C. Green in 2020.