ERNEST WARREN - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 05/08/1886 - HFSID 304743

ERNEST WARREN
The humorous author congratulates actress Alma Murray on performing Shelley's Circe. This was an historic private showing of a play which would not be performed on a public stage until 1922.
Autograph Letter signed: "Ernest Warren", 2 pages (integral leaf), 4½x7¼. 12 Pyrland Road, Richmond, Surrey [England], 1886 May 8. To "Dear Miss [Alma] Murray", in full: "Let me be one amongst the many to congratulate you upon your remarkable recreation of Shelley's Beatrice. I fear you must feel the effects of your exertions today. Not only is the part of extreme length, but, I should imagine, one of the hardest to study & most arduous to act ever written. The Shelley Society should be everlastingly grateful to you and Herman Vizier as together you made it possible to sit out four hours of The Cenci. With kind regards. Sincerely yours". Ernest Warren (1841-1887) wrote humorous, illustrated books of a type called "comic books" in England. His titles, written for adults, with illustrations by Hal Ludlow, included The Four Flirts, The White Cat, Laughing Eyes and My Boy Jack. The Cenci, written by poet Percy Shelley in 1819, was not publicly performed in England until 1922, due to its themes of incest and parricide. The private showing, cited here, was arranged by the Shelley Society in 1886, with an audience which included Oscar Wilde, Robert Browning and George Bernard Shaw. The play is, as Warren notes, a very difficult and lengthy one, not often performed. English actress Alma Murray (1854-1945) did indeed play the title role of Beatrice in this unique performance. Normal mailing fold. Lightly creased at top right. Otherwise, fine condition.