(Theatrical History) Hand colored print, 7 1/2 x 10 1/4 in. [c. 1853] captioned “CLOSING SCENE FROM THE PLAY OF ‘THE JEWESS,’ AS PERFORMED AT THE BOSTON MUSEUM.” This was the first Boston production of William Thomas Moncrieff’s adaptation of Sir Walter Scott’s 1820 novel, Ivanhoe, which premiered at the Boston Museum on 7 March 1853.¹ The Boston Courier raved, “It would be difficult to conceive any thing more gorgeous and magnificent in the way of stage display and scenic arrangement than is presented in the spectacle of the Jewess, which is now attracting so much attention at the Boston Museum. Unlike most of the so called show pieces, the Jewess combines to an opportunity for brilliant appointments the merit of a strong plot and great dramatic effect, which, in the hands of Mr. Smith as Eleazer, and Mrs. Barrett as the Jewess, are most admirably developed. We very much doubt if any equally interesting and beautiful dramatic entertainment was ever before offered in Boston.”² Light creases, some minor marginal wear, else fine.

(EXA 3866) $125
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¹ Boston Atlas, 7 March 1853, 2. Charles Dickens mercilessly lampooned Moncrieff as the “literary gentleman” in Nicholas Nickelby, as a cultural thief or a literary pickpocket. See Ibn Warraq, “Sir Walter Scott’s Treatment of Jews in Ivanhoe”, New English Review. (July 2009).
² Boston Courier, 14 March 1853, 2.