Etsy Project Embrace and TeamEPE

Growing ... Growing ... Growing!!!

Lately Mollie has been posting about Etsy Project Embrace (EPE), that wonderful effort by a number of Etsy sellers to promote cancer awareness, raise funds for the American Cancer Society, and provide support for all those touched by cancer, on behalf of our fellow Etsian and friend Laura Slocum, who is courageously (and cheerfully) battling ovarian cancer.

Now that I've established this blog as a "parallel blog" linked to my main blog: Prosperos Bookshelf, I'll be posting updates on EPE here as well.

There have been two wonderful developments:

• First and foremost, Laura's cancer has gone into remission!  
• And second, EPE has become an official Team on Etsy!  

~  Mollie and I are both members, and I'm NOT the only guy there. 

In fact, we aren't the only couple!

This wonderful team just keeps growing and growing, as more and more Etsians join the fight to find a cure.  You can view our Team Page by clicking this link: http://team.etsy.com/viewteam.php?id=685

Also, please drop by the Etsy forums and chat with us!  The link below will take you to our forum thread:

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6296896

This is a terriffic project, bringing together Etsians from the world over. If you're a seller and would like to join forces with us, please contact Kristin at http://loveartworks.etsy.com.

If you're a customer, simply choose "All Items" from the drop-down menu at the top of the Etsy page and type "teamepe" in the search box! It's easy to find fabulous items -- and it's for a wonderful cause too! :)

Many thanks!

The Metropolitan Playhouse Stages Early and Classic American Plays

Do you live in New York City?
Are you planning a late fall visit to Manhattan?

If you answered "Yes" to either question, be sure to say "Yes" to the Metropolitan Playhouse!!!

Until November 2, you can see The Contrast by Royall Tyler, a classic early American satire pitting English manners and traditions against the good old Yankee spirit.

And November 20-December 19, say "Yes" to Under the Gaslight, Augustin Daly's quintessential "hiss-the-villain," edge-of-your-seat melodrama.

Click here to visit the theatre's website ...
... and here to take a look at their fall 2009 season.

Either way, you're in for a real theatrical treat!

Autobiographical Sketch of Mrs. John Drew

"Autobiographical Sketch of Mrs. John Drew" is a Memoir by the Matriarch of a two famous acting families, the Drews and the Barrymores.
~ Published in New York by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1899, the book is 200 pages long and includes an introduction by the author's son, John Drew, biographical notes by Douglas Taylor, and 43 illustrations.
~ The pages are clear and firmly bound, but the cover is worn and smudged. The tissue covering the frontispiece portrait is folded and torn.
~ Inscription in ink on the flyleaf:

"Edward Freiberger December 18, 1899 Chicago"

To view the book in my Etsy shop, please click this link: 
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33453209

Memoir of George Holland the Veteran Comedian

This RARE book provides wonderful primary source material for historians, researchers, and all those who love the 19th century and American theatre!

British born, George Holland (1791-1870) came to America in 1827. He was called a "comedian of peculiar and irrepressible drollery."

The title page reads:
"Holland Memorial. Sketch of the Life of George Holland, the Veteran Comedian. With Dramatic Reminiscences. Anecdotes, &c. Edition limited to 250 copies, 50 which are on quarto paper. New York: T. H. Morrell, 78 Nassau Street. 1871."

The book is 124 pages long, measures 11-1/8" x 7-1/2" x 5/8" and is in fair condition, considering its 138 years. The cover is worn, and the lower portion of the spine is torn. Pages 1 and 2 are loose up to 5" from the bottom, and page 7 is completely detached. There are light scribblings in page margins.  The frontispiece is a portrait of Holland.

To view this book in my Etsy shop, click this link:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33449592

The Ten Commandments in the Animal World - Vintage Book

Copyrighted in 1907 and published in 1923, this charming little 78-page hardcover book is in excellent condition.

It was written by the popular naturalist and storyteller Ernest Thompson Seton (1860-1946), who believed "that the Ten Commandments are not arbitrary laws given to man but are fundamental laws of all highly developed animals."

Seton tells delightful stories about different animals (from wolves to hens to moose) to prove his theory in terms of the last six Commandments, which are concerned with man's duty to man.

The chapters are:
"Against Disobedience"
"Against Murder"
"Against Impurity"
"Against Stealing"
"Against False Witness"
"Against Coveting"

The book measures 7-1/2" x 4-3/4".


To view it in my Etsy Shop, Prospero's Bookshelf, click this link:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29630856

Daniel Frohman Presents ... a Theatrical Memoir

For historians, researchers, collectors and theatre buffs!

Here is the autobiography of legendary American theatre producer Daniel Frohman (1851-1940), published by Lee Furman, New York, in 1937.

Not only is this 397-page memoir packed with primary source information, it is a fascinating "read," written with skill and gentle good humor.  The author gives us "peeps" (as he calls them) at such theatrical notables and celebrities as Mae West, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Lillie Langry, Sarah Bernhardt, Duse, Modjeska, Enrico Caruso, Noel Coward, Charlie Chaplin, Billie Burke, and dozens more.

He also provides insights into stewardship of the Lyceum and Madison Square Theatres.

The book itself is in fair condition. The cover is worn and faded, especially at the spine, which is broken but still firmly attached. There are a few light pencil notes in the margin, and the inside front cover has had an old bookplate removed.

Aside from Frohman's lively and informative commentary, the real treasure in this book is the last section -- "Daniel Frohman's Album." Here, in excellent condition, are 64 black and white photographs of the people we've all heard of and wondered about.

~~~ Was Lillie Langtry ("The Jersey Lily") really a great beauty? Study the photo of her with the great Sarah Bernhardt and then decide.  (That's Lillie on the left.)

 
Other celebrities in Frohman's Album include:
~ Noel Coward
~ Enrico Caruso
~ Lillian Russell
~ Salvini
~ Henry Irving
~ Thomas Nast
~ Charles Chaplin
~ Mae West
~ Maude Adams
~ Eleonora Duse
~ Edwin Booth
~ Otis Skinner
~ Walter Hampden
~ Ethel Barrymore
~ Maurice Barrymore and John Drew, scions of the famous star-studded family
~ Charles Frohman, the author's brother
~ George M. Cohan, the "Yankee Doodle Dandy"

All in all, this is a thoroughly delightful book, offering many revealing "peeps" at the late 19th and early 20th century theatre scene in America.

To view Daniel Frohman Presents in my Etsy shop, please click this link:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33239523

The Magic Curtain by Lawrence Langner - Story of the Theatre Guild

The Magic Curtain is a wonderful book for everyone interested in the theatre!

Written with wit and clarity, and packed with entertaining anecdotes about famous 20th century celebs, it tells the story of the Theatre Guild, one of the best known and most successful producing theatres in America. And no one knew that story better than Langner, who was, after all, the Guild's founder.

Subtitled "The Story of a Life in Two Fields, Theatre and Invention by the Founder of the Theatre Guild," Langner's book was published in New York by E. P. Dutton & Co. in 1951.  This is the Second Printing of the First Edition.

Its 498 pages include 87 black and white photos -- some of them candid snapshots, others promotional production photos -- including major actors and actresses who performed for the Guild, as well as several of Eugene O'Neill and George Bernard Shaw.

There are a number appendices, one of which lists 173 Theatre Guild plays, and a comprehensive index.

The book measures 9-3/8" x 6-3/8" x 1-1/2" and is in very good vintage condition.

Please click here to view The Magic Curtain in my Etsy shop.