[FOKKE, Jan.]

Histoire van den Amsterdamschen schouwburg ...

Amsterdam, G. Warnars and P. den Hengst, 1772. 4to, pp. [8], 80, [12], with engraved frontispiece and 4 double-page plates, title-page with large vignette and engraved memorial leaf with large vignette, plates after Simon Fokke and Meer, the younger; a very good copy with wide margins, the double-page plates occasionally with a little light soiling in the white margins; contemporary half calf with speckled boards, richly gilt spine with red label. First edition of the history of the Amsterdam theatre together with an eye-witness account of its destruction by fire. The Amsterdam Schouwburg, inaugurated in 1638, was the first permanent theatre in Amsterdam. Initially the theatre saw 90 productions per year, during the 18th century it became more and more a place for opera. In May 1772, during a performance of Monsigny's Déserteur, a fire swept through the building, destroying it completely and killing eighteen people. Fokke's dramatic illustrations capture the outbreak of fire on the stage behind the scenes, the burning of the whole building illuminating the night sky with curious onlookers thronging the streets and bridges, and an internal view of the gutted theatre.Simon Fokke (1712-84), brother of the author Jan Fokke, was an actor as well as a stage designer. He had designed the set for the opera Demostenes at the Shouwburg.

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• libraire: Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (GREAT BRITAIN)