Sheva -- not Shylock
The Jew: a Comedy. Performed at the Theatre-Royal, Drury Lane.
London: C. Dilly, 1794.
Price: $1,500.00
About the item
First edition. [4], 76, [1] pages. 1 vols. 8vo. Sheva -- not Shylock. Early 20th-century 3/4 blue calf gilt, covers detached; contents toned, title lightly soiled, with minor stains.
Item #212226
"Cumberland . . . tried to reverse the image of the Jew created by Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice . . . In the person of Sheva, Cumberland brought a new kind of Jew to the English stage. Sheva, like Shylock, is a usurer, hustled and insulted by the gentlemen of the town . . . But by the end of the play the audience is made to realize that not one of the unflattering epithets applies to him . . . In spite of touches of melodrama and sentimentality, The Jew did well on stage and had an influence on the more serious drama of the period" - EJ V, 1169-70. No copy has ever been listed in ABPC
Bound with: Kemble, John Philip. Lodoiska: An Opera, in Three Acts. 58 pages. London, [1794]. and: [Bickerstaff, Isaac.] The Pannel. An Entertainment, of Three Acts. [4], 47 pages. London, 1789.
