THE SIEGE OF DAMASCUS: A Tragedy (1744); THE FAIR CIRCASSIAN: A Dramatic Performance (1743); HYPERMNESTRA or LOVE IN TEARS: A Tragedy (1722); THE BEGGAR'S OPERA (1746) 4 PLAYS BOUND IN 1 VOLUME

12mo. (approx. 17 x 9.7cm) hardback in original 18th Century full calf, raised bands, gilt rules to spine and boards. 83pp., plus 1pp. Epilogue, with engraved frontispiece; [18], 49pp., plus 5pp. Publisher's advertisements, with engraved frontispiece; 83pp., plus 1pp. Epilogue, with half-title and 1pp. Publisher's advertisements at front; 58pp. plus 2pp. Table of Songs. Cast Lists to first and last plays. Contemporary ink initials to front pastedown. Foredge of title page and Table of Songs of The Beggar's Opera have been trimmed with slight loss to text (please see photos). Occasional light foxing and browning to pages. Some wear and rubbing, mainly to spine, and a small area of old worming to lower board. Overall a Good Copy. This is one volume of a large collection of uniformly bound mainly 18th century collections of plays (generally 4 or 5 per volume) from the collection of the Vaughan Jenkins family of the Manor of Priston in Somerset. They were mostly bought at the time of publication in London (c.1713 - 1765, but some as early as 1655) and uniformly bound. Many of the volumes have the initials MCJ (Mary Caroline Jenkins, 1731-1790) or ED (Elizabeth Davis, nee Jenkins, 1736-1810) who were the daughters of Elizabeth Jenkins (1712-1766) and William Jenkins (1688-1774), who became Lord of the Manor of Priston in 1757 when the family moved from London. These books all remained at Priston until being inherited by the uncle of the vendor of the collection.