[Revolutionary Imprint] [George Washington] Leacock, John

The Fall of British Tyranny: or, American Liberty Triumphant. The First Campaign. A Tragi-Comedy of Five Acts, as Lately Planned at the Royal Theatrum Pandemonium at St. James's. The Principal Place of Action in America. [Fragment]

[Likely Boston]: [Likely Gill, and Powers and Willis], 1776. 8vo in 4s, 19.5x12.5cm, v-viii, [1]-36pp. Incomplete copy, lacking ppi-iv and 37-70. Signatures stitched and removed from a larger volume, with old and more recent annotations to first page, damp staining and foxing throughout, dark stain to center of prelims, affecting a few words but sense clear.

Fragmentary copy of one of the earliest American Revolutionary plays, written and printed in the year of independence.  This work is also considered the earliest known in drama or literature to depict Washington as a character.  The satirical play echoed Paine's core ideas and roused support in the rejection of monarchy through its allegorical characters:  high mucky muck Lords such as "Hypocrite" and "Paramount" representing British tyranny, and everyman characters and pro-American parliamentarians such as Lords "Wisdom" and "Justice" representing democracy.  There is also an early slavery narrative which runs through the play, with Lord Dunmore's proclamation being dramatized, and parallels drawn between slave insurrections and the colonial rebellion itself.  This inclusion of "Negroes" in the Dramatis Personae marks it as among the earliest American dramatic works to include African Americans.  

This copy has a few typographical differences from the digitized Philadelphia copy on Google books, and we note a smaller paper size than the Providence imprint, according to OCLC.  This is likely the Boston printing, which according to Evans has the imprint: Philadelphia, Printed: New-England, Boston: Re-printed by John Gill, and Powers and Willis, in Queen-Street [1776].  In any event, a scarce and important Revolutionary publication, though a fragment, which hasn't appeared at auction since 1965, according to Rarebookhub.

. Item #9287

Price: $1,250.00