Providence Theatre. For the benefit of Mr. Conway and his last appearance here, this season...

[Providence? 1824.]. Folio broadside (approx. 14" x 10"), previous folds, slight wrinkling; near fine. William Augustus Conway (1789-1828) was an English tragedian, and himself a tragic figure. Conway went to America after his performances were panned in the U.K. Nor did America warm to his acting. Conway then purportedly secluded himself in Newport to study and to take Holy Orders. In 1828, despondent and thin-skinned, Conway committed suicide on a voyage from New York to Charleston. After his death Conway was scandalized by love letters written to him by a then eighty-year-old Hester Thrale Piozzi, which were published in the 1840s. This 1824 broadside also mentions a performance of Mrs. H[enry] A[ugusta] Williams. Mrs. Williams was soon divorced from her English-born husband, and she was the expectant mother of Augusta Maywood (1825-1876). Augusta Maywood is considered to be America's first native-born ballerina and was a childhood dance sensation. Augusta's mother eventually married actor and theatre manager Robert Maywood. Not in OCLC or American Imprints. See, Tearle, et al., Mrs. Piozzi's Tall Young Beau, William Augustus Conway (1991); and, Willard, History of the Providence Stage (1891). Item #56287

Price: $950.00