MATHEWS, (Charles) Mrs. Memoirs of Charles Mathews, Comedian.
London: Richard Bentley, ... 1838. In four volumes. First edition.
Tall 8vo., cont. half calf, marble boards, raised bands, gilt compartments, leather spine labels.
Some rubbing along the outer hinges and boards, but o/w a near fine set.
Charles Mathews [1776-1835], English actor, was born in London ,1776. His father was "a serious bookseller," who also officiated as minister in one of Lady Huntington's chapels. Mathews was educated at Merchant Talor's School. His love for the stage was formed in his boyhood, when he was apprentice to his father, and the latter in 1794 unwillingly permitted him to enter on a theatrical engagement in Dublin. For several years Mathews had to content himself with thankless parts at a low salary, but in May 1803 he made his first London appearance at the Haymarket as Jabel in Cumberland's The Jew and as Lingo in The Agreeable Surprise. From this time his professional career was an uninterrupted triumph. He had a wonderful gift of mimicry, and could completely disguise his personality without the smallest change of dress. The versatility and originality of his powers were admirably displayed in his "At Homes," begun in the Lyceum theatre in 1818, which according to Leigh Hunt, "for the richness and variety of his humour, were as good as half a dozen plays distilled." Off the stage his simple and kind-hearted disposition won him affection and esteem. In 1822 Mathews visited America, his observation on his experiences there forming for the reader a most entertaining portion of his biography. From infancy his health had been uncertain, and the toils of the profession gradually undermined it. In 1834 he paid a second visit to America. His last appearance in New York was on the 11th of February 1835, when he played Samuel Coddle in Married Life and Andrew Steward in The Lone House. He died at Plymouth on the 28th of June 1835. In 1797 he had married Eliza Kirkham Strong (d. 1802), and in 1803 Anne Jackson, an actress, the author of the popular and diverting Memoirs, by Mrs. Mathews (4 vols., 1838-1839). (11th Brit). $750 CAD