Bonhams 1793 : WILDE (OSCAR) Autograph letter signed ("Oscar Wilde"), to "My Dear Dacre", introducing Miss Agnes Cahill, undated

Autograph letter signed ("Oscar Wilde"), to "My Dear Dacre", introducing Miss Agnes Cahill "who is very anxious to play in your new production. She has already acted in London with Daly's Company at the Lyceum (Phoebe in As You Like It, Maria, etc) and in the provinces with Vezin. She is exceptionally bright, clever, and intelligent, and if there is the part of an American girl in the play, I think you will thank me for the introduction – indeed in any part requiring brightness and grace and wit Miss Cahill would be excellent", 4 pages, light dust-staining, especially to last page, 8vo, 15 Tite Street, no date

Sold for £4,000 inc. premium

Footnotes

'BRIGHTNESS AND GRACE AND WIT": WILDE RECOMMENDS A YOUNG ACTRESS. No letters to Dacre are recorded in The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde. The recipient appears to be Arthur James, who acted under the stage name Arthur Dacre, whose fate it was to commit suicide with his wife, the actress Amy Roselle, in 1895. The identity of Agnes Cahill is more problematic. We can find no record of an actress of that name at that period; the comedienne Marie Cahill, even allowing for the fluidity of names in the profession, can almost certainly be ruled out; or although American, born in 1870, and for a time being with Daly's Company, there is no record of her touring the British provinces or taking Shakespearean roles.

Included in the lot is a clutch of theatrical letters and memorabilia, including an autograph letter by Henry Irving to Dacre wishing him well in his forthcoming production (1887) plus a letter and signed photograph sent to Miss Rose Havard of 45 Shepherd's Bush Green in 1883; as well as other letters to Rosie Swain an actress of whom there is some record at the same address.

Category: Books / Books, Maps and Manuscripts

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