1768.009: Performance Handbill, May 18, 1768.
Published: 1768
Full Title: By permission of the worshipful the Mayor of Williamsburg (for the benefit of Mrs. Osborne) at the old theatre near the Capitol, by the Virginia Company of Comedians, will be presented, on Wednesday next, being the 18th instant [May], a comedy called The Constant Couple, or A Trip to the Jubilee. … To which will be added a farce, called The Miller of Mansfield.
Author: Virginia Company of Comedians
Place Issued: Williamsburg
Issuing Press: Purdie & Dixon
Description: 1 sheet [1 pg.]; 32 x 22 cm. (broadside).
Notes
The mayor of Williamsburg was merchant James Cocke (1 Dec. 1767 to 30 Nov. 1768). The Virginia Company of Comedians conducted at least nine performances between April 4 and June 8 of 1768. Each show was advertised in advance, with a promotional handbill for each show printed in advance, and a detailed playbill the issued the day of the performance. Of the nine known performances, promotional handbills for only four of the advertised shows and one show-time playbill have survived. This is one of the surviving imprints; production was uncredited by Hummel, but is assigned here to Purdie & Dixon based on the company's advertising. They advertised all of their performances in the Purdie & Dixon Gazette, but only about half of them in that of William Rind; moreover, these performances were concurrent with the meetings of the General Assembly and the General Court, when Rind's press was producing work for the public-printing concession, making the Purdie & Dixon press the most likely origin.
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