Bell's British Theatre by John Bell - 1780: Second edition with illustrations by James Roberts

Incomplete run of 17 volumes (of 21) of the second edition of John Bell's British Theatre, the first published in 1776-78.

Volumes 1-12 and 14-19 (missing volumes 13, 14, 20, 21), each with five plays complete, with all 17 frontispieces and 85 fold-out theatrical portraits by James Roberts, engraved by Reading, Thornthwaite, Walker, etc.

Portraits include actors, actresses and opera singers of the Georgian stage including Sarah Siddons, Thomas Sheridan, David Garrick, Ann Barry, Mary Ann Yates, Joseph Vernon, Priscilla Hopkins, Ann Brown, etc.

Vol. 1: Tragedies: Zara by Aaron Hill, Venice Preserved by Thomas Otway, Jane Shore by Nicholas Rowe, The Siege of Damascus by John Hughes, The Distrest Mother by Ambrose Philips.
Vol. 2: Comedies: The Provok'd Wife by John Vanburgh, Every Man in his Humour by Ben Jonson, The Beaux Stratagem by George Farquhar, The Old Batchelor by William Congreve, The Committee by R. Howard.
Vol. 3: Tragedies: The Earl of Essex by Henry Jones, Tamerlane by Nicholas Rowe, The Mourning Bride by William Congreve, The Penitent by Nicholas Rowe, Cato by Joseph Addison.
Vol. 4: Comedies: Rule a Wife and Have a Wife by Beaumont and Fletcher, The Wonder by Mrs Centlivre, The Conscious Lovers by Sir Richard Steele, The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar, The Suspicious Husband by Dr. Hoadley.
Vol. 5: Tragedies: All for Love by Dryden, The Orphan by Thomas Otway, Tancred and Sigismunda by Thomson, George Barnwell by Lillo, Isabella by Thomas Southern.
Vol. 6: Comedies: A Bold Stroke for a Wife by Mrs Centlivre, The Miser by Henry Fielding, The Provok'd Husband by Sir John Vanburgh and Colley Cibber, Love Makes a Man by Colley Cibber, She Wou'd and She Wou'dn't by Colley Cibber.
Vol. 7: Tragedies: The Royal Convert by Nicholas Rowe, Alexander the Great by N. Lee, Mahomet by Rev. Miller, Thodosius by N. Lee, Lady Jane Grey by Nicholas Rowe.
Vol. 8: Comedies: The Funeral by Sir Richard Steele, Love for Love by William Congreve, The Careless Husband by Colley Cibber, The Tender Husband by Sir Richard Steele, The Busy Body by Mrs Centlivre.
Vol. 9: Operas: The Beggar's Opera by John Gay, Achilles by John Gay, Polly by John Gay, The Gentle Shepherd by Allan Ramsay, Comus by John Milton.
Vol. 10: Tragedies: Merope by Aaron Hill, Barbarossa by Rev. Dr. Brown, Alzira by Aaron Hill, Phaedra and Hippolitus by Smith, Oroonoko by Thomas Southern.
Vol. 11: Comedies: The Refusal by Colley Cibber, The Way of the World by William Congreve, Amphitryon by Dryden and Hawkesworth, The Drummer by Joseph Addison, The Relapse by Sir John Vanburgh.
Vol. 12: Tragedies: King Charles I by Havard, The Gamster by Moore, Don Sebastian by John Dryden, Oedipus by Dryden and Lee, The Revenge by Dr. Young.
Vol. 15: Comedies: The Constant Couple by George Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair by George Farquhar, The Confederacy by John Vanburgh, The Rehearsal by the Duke of Buckingham, The Chances by the Duke of Buckingham.
Vol. 16: Tragedies: Electra by Lew Theobald, Ambitious Step-Mother by Nicholas Rowe, Edward the Black Prince by William Shirley, Busiris by Dr. Young, Eurydice by Malley.
Vol. 17: Comedies: The Twin Rivals by George Farquhar, The Country Wife by Wycherley, The Fair Quaker of Deal by Shadwell, The Alchymist by Ben Jonson, Love's Last Shift by Charles Johnson.
Vol. 18: Tragedies: Sophonisba by Thomson, Philaster by Beaumont and Fletcher, Virginia by Crisp, Gustavus Vasa by Henry Brooke, Ulysses by Nicholas Rowe.
Vol. 19: Comedies: Volpone by Ben Jonson, Country Lasses by C. Johnson, Mistake by Sir John Vanburgh, The Gamester by Shirley, The Lady's Last Stake by Colley Cibber.

Ex libris Cripplegate Foundation, with handwritten note "Restored by the Cripplegate Foundation in March 1983," signed Harold B. Kitchener. Includes a facsimile notice from The Times newspaper, January 1, 1785, advertising the 21- volume set.

Handwritten 18th-century list to endpapers of Vol. 11 including "breeches, stockings, shirts, handkerchiefs, long boots, rhubarb, fishing tackle, papers, shaving things, hair powder."

James Roberts (1753-c.1809) was an English portrait and miniature painter. From 1775 to 1781, he painted dramatic portraits of actors on vellum for John Bell, which were then engraved for Bell's British Theatre.

All uniformly bound in full calf with red and green leather gilt title labels, leather dry and flaking, professionally rebacked in 1983, interior mostly unfoxed, all 85 copperplate engravings present, many fold-out. Blue stamp and perforated stamp of the Cripplegate Institute on frontispiece and title page in each volume, blue stamps on verso of all plates, not visible from front. Slight musty odour to the set.