Gilded Age scrapbook of Brooklyn & NYC theater bills and ephemera, ca. 1873-1881, including rare Edwin Booth and Wallack’s Theatre publications (plus Gilbert & Sullivan, Sarah Bernhardt, and Brooklyn Theatre before it burned)

Half leather folio scrapbook, 15 x 10 x 2 inches. Yellow leaves bound into heavy pebbled cloth boards, gilt-stamped cover and spine. Heavy rubbing wear to the edges, with shallow loss to the heel and areas of perishing. Boards bowed, shaken, clumsy, but overall Very Good. (4) pages of personal items with assorted loose items laid in, followed by 54 blank leaves, (17) pages with mounted theater clippings, (33) blank leaves. Loose items grouped into sleeves (see list of contents).

Haphazardly assembled, but full of gems. Notable items are related to performances by Edwin Booth in The Fool's Revenge, Brutus, Cardinal Richelau, King Lear, and Merchant of Venice; programs for Gilbert & Sullivan productions (Patience, Pirates of Penzance, H. M. S. Pinafore); and a program from Sarah Bernhardt’s American debut in Camille, November 17, 1880. Edward Southern, Dion Boucicault, and Lotta Crabtree are also represented. Plus, many performances at the Brooklyn Theatre before the disastrous fire on December 5, 1876.

Collected by Guy Du Val (1860-1949), the youngest son of Caroline and William Duval. The 1875 NY State Census records him living at Monroe Place in Brooklyn Heights with his parents, two sisters, a brother, a cook, a maid, and a coachman. The scrapbook includes some personal items, including “Whist Party” invitations, a ribbon for the Brooklyn Young Republican Club, and some clippings related to rowing—which appears to have stolen his interest away from theater. Du Val became a founder and director of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, director of the Brooklyn chapter of the Red Cross, and president of the Long Island Historical Society.

Barely a teenager at the time of the earliest performances, the album feels like a fancy gift for which he had great, but not long-lasting, ambitions. He’s allocated the front pages for travel and personal ephemera, starting on the theater material halfway through. The clippings are nested for economy, but there is ultimately plenty of space to spare—the scrapbook format was abandoned, with 30 clippings laid in and most album pages still untouched.

An extensive but not exhaustive LIST OF CONTENTS

PERSONAL

• Souvenirs from a trip to Montreal, including:
• The Hotel Reporter. Vol. I, No. 56. Thursday, August 12, 1880. (4p, mounted to page)
• Ephemera from Windsor Hotel, Montreal, including trade cards and stationery
• “A story from the Burlington Daily Hawkeye. July 23, 1879. Roaming Robert. A trip from Montreal to Portland…” (Burlington, Iowa). 8pp narrative by Robert J. Burdette tipped into the gutter.
• Items related to the 1880 Brooklyn Heights Seminary Commencement
  
  LOOSE: Partially clipped pages with personal letters and a “Brooklyn Young Republicans” badge; various invitations, rowing articles, etc.
  
  
• Program for Burnham’s Academy of Physical Culture Grand Gymnastic, Calisthenic, Pantomimic and Social Entertainment… Feb. 14, 1873. “Comprising Gymnasia, Swedish Movement Cure, Electricity, Bowling Alleys, Turkish (hot air), Russian (steam), Sulphur, Vapor, and Medicated Baths of all kinds.” Bifolium program, folded and tipped to album on page 4 (blank, no obstruction).
  

THEATER SECTION (approx. 26 items)
Performance, location, and date (when noted, either in print or pencil)

• Ticket-of-Leave Man. Brooklyn Academy of Music, March 24, 1873.
• “Mr. Southern in as Lord Dundreary in Our American Cousin. Brooklyn Academy of Music,  June 7, 1873.
• Camille. May 27, 1874.
• Miss Clara Morris in Camille. Dec. 24, 1874.
• The Two Orphans (Jan. 11, 1875)
• The Shaughraun (Jan. 22, 1875)
• Frou Frou. Brooklyn Theatre, Oct. 4, 1875.
• The Flying Scud. Brooklyn Theatre, Oct. 19, 1875.
• Agnes. Brooklyn Theatre, Oct. 5, 1875.
• The School for Scandal. Brooklyn Theatre, Nov. 9, 1875.
• Henry V. Brooklyn Theatre, Jan. 1, 1876.
• Led Astray. Brooklyn Theatre, Mar. 17, 1876.
• The Hunchback. Daly’s Fifth Avenue Theatre, May 26 [1876].
• La Fille de Madame Angot (Oct. 2, 1876)
• The Grand Duchess (Oct. 4, 1876)
• Girofle-Girofla. Brooklyn Theatre, Oct. 6, 1876.
  
  
• Edwin Booth in The Fool’s Revenge (Academy of Music, Feb. 2, 1877)
• Edwin Booth in Brutus; or, the Fall of Tarquin (Academy of Music, Feb. 3, 1877)
• Edwin Booth in Cardinal Richelieu. Academy of Music, Feb. 8, 1877.
• Edwin Booth in King Lear. Academy of Music, Feb. 10, 1877.
• Emma Abbott in La Figlia del Reggimento. Academy of Music, Feb. 28, 1877.
• Lohengrin. Academy of Music, March 15, 1877. “The first night of the Wagner Opera Festival”
• Clara Morris [in Miss Multon] Sept. 24, 1877
• Niblo’s Garden Programme. The Three Guardsmen (De.c 3, 1877)
• Countess Bozenta Modjeska in Camille (Jan. 19, 1878)
• The Duke’s Motto (Niblo’s Garden Programme, Jan. 28, 1878)
  
  
• “Edwin Booth presents King Lear at the Academy of Music, Feb. 19, 1878.” Monogrammed card.
• Count Joannes and Miss Avonia Fairbanks in Richard III. Wood’s Theatre, Mar. 18, 1878.
• John S. Clark in A Widow Hunt and Toodles (Mar. 21, 1878)
• A Celebrated Case. April 2, 1878 (Merion Square Theatre? Shook/Palmer, managers)
• Majeroni [Signor & Signora] in Camille. May 14, 1878.
  
• La Belle Hélène (Offenbach) June 1, 1878.
• First Grand Wilhelmj Concert, directed by Max Liebling (Oct. 8, 1878. Academy of Music)
• Mary Anderson in Romeo and Juliet (Nov. 1, 1878)
  
  
• Standard Theatre. First production in this city of An Entirely New and Original Comic Opera, H.M.S. Pinafore. Composed by Arthur Sullivan. Written by W. S. Gilbert. Originally produced at the “Opera Comique,” London, last May… (New York: A. S. Seer, Theatrical Printer). January 29, 1879. Bifolium program with creasing and soil; only pages 1-3 are legible (p4 entirely pasted to album).
  
  
• Smaller H.M.S. Pinafore playbill, unstated performance.
• Led Astray. Atheneum Society benefit, April 29, 1879. Printed card, tipped into gutter.
• New Park Theatre variety program, week of May 6, 1878. Including “The Coming Man,” and performers Jenny Morgan, Harry Kennedy, Bryant and Hoey, Miss Kitty O’Neill, Tony Pastor’s Portfolio, Sharles S. Rogers and Miss Mattie Vickers in “Stage Struck,” Billy Barry, Watson and Ellis, “The Fontainbleaus,” Harry and John Kernell, K.-H.-K. (High-kickers), Emerson Clark, Daly Brothers.
  
• Banker’s Daughter. Academy of Music, May 20, 1879.
• Faust. Academy of Music, Oct. 10, 1879.
• Rigoletto. Academy of Music, Nov. 6, 1879.
• “Benefit of the Brooklyn Maternity, A Novel Extravaganza, Frog Opera.” Directed by W. S. Daboll. Academy of Music, Nov. 7-8, 1879.
  
• Program for the Church of the Holy Trinity New Year’s Eve service, Dec. 31, 1880.
• Lucia di Lammermoor. Academy of Music, Nov. 27, 1879.
• Madison Square Theatre Programme. Hazel Kirke. 1879 bifolium color printed program, p4 mounted to album.
  
• Athenean Society Programme. Wednesday evening, January 21st, 1880. Henry Dunbar… under the direction of H. M. Ferris.
• The Pirates of Penzance, or the Slave of Duty. Partial program with color illustrations, printed by A. S. Seer (March, 1880).
  
• Apollo Club of Brooklyn, private concert April 27, 1880.
• Lotta in The Little Detective; or, Woman’s Curiosity (April 26, 1880).
• Edwin Booth and Mrs. D. P. Bowers in Merchant of Venice, ending with the trial scene, and The Taming of the Shrew. (Academy of Music, May 8, 1880).
  
• The World. By Paul Merritt, Henry Pettitt and Augustus Harris. Wallack’s [1881]
• Wallack’s. The grandest success of the season. “The World.” With its extraordinary scenic effects (cover title). 32mo program booklet, 16pp,  mounted under playbill. Lots of local ads; illustrated. “1881” penciled.
  
• Hazel Kirke. (Madison Square Theatre, 1881).
• Apollo Club of Brooklyn. Private concert, 1881.
  
• Joseph Jefferson in The Rivals. Sept. 23, 1881.
• I Puritani. Academy of Music, Nov. 25, 1881.
• Cinderella at School. Brooklyn Park Theatre. (Nd)
  
• Mlle. Sarah Bernhardt in Camille. Nov. 17, 1880. With portrait and extra clipping.
• Mefistofele. Written and composed by Arrigo Boito, with an English adaptation by Theo. Marzials. London and New York: Samuel French. Libretto in glazed color wraps. 24pp with extra leaf of ads at rear. Tipped into album gutter [with] a review of the performance at the Academy of Music, from Brooklyn Eagle, Dec. 9, 1880.
  

LOOSE MISCELLANY [SLEEVE ONE, 10 items]

• Mr. R. D’Oyly Carte’s Operatic Season at the Standard Theatre. First Production of the New Aesthetic Opera Patience by W. S. Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan. Thursday Eve Sep. 22, 1881. Loag, Pr., Philad’a. (Cover title) (4p).
  
• Manhattan Beach Railway Time Table 1882 / Gilmore’s Grand Concerts. September 1882. With map of NY & Manhattan Beach Railway route and shoreline view of Manhattan Beach.
  
• Complimentary Concert to Mr. G. N. Jacobs at Strong Place Baptist Church, Wednesday, November 30, at 8 p.m. Under the direction of Mr. M. B. Parkinson. [4p program with pencil flirting on p4, probably written during the concert—“Her dress reminds me of a fancy ice / Do you like that vibratory style of singing?” A Spencerian flourished goose is captioned, “This is a picture of you.”
  
• The Sleeping Beauty: A Fairy Tale in Pantomime, (Introducing Tennyson’s Poem,) for the benefit of the Mount Vernon Endowment Fund, Academy of Music, New York, Thursday and Friday Evenings, April 25 and 26, 1878. Given by the Mount Vernon Aid Society of New York. New York: A. S. Seer, 1878. 14pp. (Residue from being tipped into album)
  
• Philharmonic Orchestra ft. Rafael Josefry. March 18-19, 1881.
• Philharmonic Orchestra. Ft. Annie Louise Cary. November 20, 1881.
• Academy of Music, program for Dec. 16, 1881 opera performance featuring Mme. A Patti; second half was Act IV from Il Trovatore.
• Ad for Theodore B. Starr salesrooms with portrait of Patti
• Apollo Club of Brooklyn, Feb. 14, 1882, private performance program (split along fold)
• Pink program card for a recital featuring soprano E. J. Grant; elocutionist J. P. Silvernail, and “Prestidigitateur” Richmond Lennox (et al.). No date.

LOOSE THEATER CLIPPINGS [SLEEVE TWO, 20 items]

• The Boston Ideal Opera Company does Olivette. Academy of Music, Feb. 1881.
• Comley-Barton Company, Olivette, March 3, 1881. “Bang up the best one I have ever been to”
• Comic Opera Company. Olivette. April 1, 1881.
  
• Lotta in Little Nell and the Marchioness, or, The Old Curiosity Shop. April 12, 1881. [Abbey Theatre?]
• “Grand Gala Concert of Mme. Etelka Gerster.” April 25, 1881.
• Vokes Family (American tour) in Cousin Joe and Belles of the Kitchen. Haverly’s Theatre, April 25, 1881.
• John T. Raymond in Fresh, The American by Archibald C. Gunter. May 5, 1881.
  
  
• Brooklyn Park Theatre. Variety/burlesque. Week of May 9, 1881. Tony Pastor’s Troupe, Harry McAvoy & Emma Rogers, Frank E. McNish and the Leland Sisters, French Twin Sisters, Tony Pastor, Irwin Sisters, Lillie Western, Lester and Allen, Ella Wesner, Lester and Williams, Furguson and Mack, and Our School Girls; or, Fun in a Boarding School.
• Fatinitza. (Academy of Music?) May 13, 1881.
  
  
• Birch & Backus’ San Francisco Minstrels from their Opera House, New York. Melange Musicale (Aug. 31, 1881) [with] “The Inimitable Grotesque Dancers and Comedians, Johnson and Powers,” “The California Quartette,” “the Screamin Burlesque, Salvini’s Othello,” and “The Great Ventriloquist Comedian Harry Kennedy.”
• The Harrisons… and their Musical Comedy Company (Alice and Louis Harrison)…“Presenting an Original Musical Improbability, entitled, Photos, a fusillade of mirth, replete with sparkling music and ecstatically utter effect.” Harry Warren plays Sarah Bernhardt. Week of Sept. 5, 1881.
• The Major, ft. Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart. October 1881.
• Lester Wallack in Ours. Oct. 10, 1881.
  
• Edwin Booth in The Fool’s Revenge, Nov. 3, 1881.
• Jos. K. Emmet in Fritz in Ireland. November 1881.
• William Tell. Nov. 28, 1881. Ft. Malvina Cavallazzi.
• Les Huguenots. Dec. 22, 1881. Ft. Malvina Cavallazzi.
• Aida directed by Arditi, ft. Paolina Rossini (no theatre or date)
• The Authorized Patience. Under the management of Comley & Barton. By arrangement with R. D’Oyley Carte. (Gilbert & Sullivan). Dec. 29, 1881. Ft. George Gaston.
  
• La Jolie Parfumeuse. Expressly written for Mme. Theo by the illustrious Offenbach, and originally performed by her in the principal cities of Europe. October 19, 1882. Only performance.