Edgar Allan Poe Parents Theatre Ad In 1808...
Item # 726480
January 28, 1808
BOSTON GAZETTE, Jan. 28, 1808
* Edgar Allan Poe's father & mother theater ad
* Advertisement for the showing of "Hamlet"
* Also one for "Who's The Dope ?"
* Eliza Arnold Hopkins Poe & David Poe Jr.
1808 On page 3 under "Boston Theatre" is a listing for a performance of "Hamlet" with Mrs. Poe as "Ophelia", plus one for a "Farce" called "Who's The Dupe?", with Mr. Poe as "Sandford". The parents of Edgar Allan Poe. (see image) Notice that the advertisement is lightly inked and somewhat hard to see.
Complete with 4 pages, some light damp staining, generally good.
background: The performance on January 29, 1808, at Boston’s Federal Street Theatre serves as a profound historical prelude to the life of Edgar Allan Poe, capturing his parents at the height of their professional partnership just one year before his birth. The evening's playbill required an exhausting display of range from David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Poe, who transitioned from the grim mortality of Shakespeare’s "Hamlet"—with Elizabeth as the tragic Ophelia and David as Laertes—to the spirited antics of Hannah Cowley’s farce, "Who’s the Dupe?", where David portrayed the clever Sandford. This event is historically significant not only for documenting the grueling "double-bill" nature of the early 19th-century American stage but also for highlighting the stark contrast in the couple's reputations: Elizabeth was the lauded star whose "sweetness" defined her roles, while David's performance as Sandford reflected his reliance on supporting "gentleman" roles to mask his struggles with leading tragic parts. Ultimately, this night crystallizes the atmosphere into which Edgar was born; he was the child of a wandering, "stage-struck" couple who inhabited a world of scripted ghosts and masquerades, a legacy of performance and precariousness that would deeply inform the haunting, theatrical nature of his own literary masterpieces.
* Edgar Allan Poe's father & mother theater ad
* Advertisement for the showing of "Hamlet"
* Also one for "Who's The Dope ?"
* Eliza Arnold Hopkins Poe & David Poe Jr.
1808 On page 3 under "Boston Theatre" is a listing for a performance of "Hamlet" with Mrs. Poe as "Ophelia", plus one for a "Farce" called "Who's The Dupe?", with Mr. Poe as "Sandford". The parents of Edgar Allan Poe. (see image) Notice that the advertisement is lightly inked and somewhat hard to see.
Complete with 4 pages, some light damp staining, generally good.
background: The performance on January 29, 1808, at Boston’s Federal Street Theatre serves as a profound historical prelude to the life of Edgar Allan Poe, capturing his parents at the height of their professional partnership just one year before his birth. The evening's playbill required an exhausting display of range from David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Poe, who transitioned from the grim mortality of Shakespeare’s "Hamlet"—with Elizabeth as the tragic Ophelia and David as Laertes—to the spirited antics of Hannah Cowley’s farce, "Who’s the Dupe?", where David portrayed the clever Sandford. This event is historically significant not only for documenting the grueling "double-bill" nature of the early 19th-century American stage but also for highlighting the stark contrast in the couple's reputations: Elizabeth was the lauded star whose "sweetness" defined her roles, while David's performance as Sandford reflected his reliance on supporting "gentleman" roles to mask his struggles with leading tragic parts. Ultimately, this night crystallizes the atmosphere into which Edgar was born; he was the child of a wandering, "stage-struck" couple who inhabited a world of scripted ghosts and masquerades, a legacy of performance and precariousness that would deeply inform the haunting, theatrical nature of his own literary masterpieces.
Category: Pre-Civil War
