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[BROOKE, Stopford A.]. ['Riquet with the Tuft']..

[s.i.]. [s.n.], [c. 1880]
12mo. Manuscript on paper. [57]ff. Bound in contemporary dark green moire cloth. Lightly rubbed and marked, spine sunned. Pencilled inscription to front blank fly- leaf: 'Maud Brooke from father 1885'. Portion of final leaf of text torn away (without loss), rear blank fly-leaf torn away. Ticket of Creswick and Co., stationers of 12 Great Portland St. to REP, further occasional pencilled corrections throughout.
An autograph manuscript of Stopford Brooke's major original verse drama in three acts, later presented to the author’s daughter; with sufficient variation from the printed version to suggest that it is at least an early draft.

Differences from the published version occur from the very beginning of this notebook. The title of this manuscript differs from that of the published work; here it is 'Riquet with the Tuft'; the title of the old fairy tale upon which the drama is based. The text itself begins in 'The Garden of the Palace of king Riquet', whilst the published edition commences instead with 'a wide garden looking to the south'.

The first scene of Act II in this manuscript opens with Riquet; the Woodsman who begins the dialogue of the published first edition is entirely absent; indeed, the latter's absence is represented in a variation in the eponymous Riquet's speeches. The author here also makes considerable pencilled changes to the Riquet's other speeches and songs performed in the ilex grove.

Throughout, the text proper is largely presented to recto, with verso used to make corrections and additions. The pencilled corrections added by Brooke to the inked text are often - as in Act II, Scene I - but not always found in the published work. Indeed, in some cases, the versions in the original ink, pencilled annotation, and final print edition are entirely different. In one instance, the original manuscript reads 'arrow-straight', which is corrected in pencil to 'straight as a mast', and presented in the final printed version simply as 'soaring straight'.

In all, the production suggests at least to this cataloguer that this manuscript is, even if not the original manuscript draft, at least an early working draft demonstrating the active process of composition and revision.

Albeit published anonymously, Brooke's authorship of this work was well known at the time amongst his circle. Indeed, Walter Crane in his An Artist's Reminiscences records the country-house performance of the work at Naworth, with T.J. Cobden-Sanderson taking the title role and Charles Howard, later Lord Morpeth taking on the role of the 'prince-suitor'. Crane record's Cobden-Sanderson’s description of the piece as 'Hamlet with a hump'.

We have been unable to locate any other autograph manuscript examples of Riquet of the Tuft under either this title, or the variation used by Brooke here.
£ 7,500.00 Antiquates Ref: 32096