Description
Thew, Robert. Fanny Kemble (Butler) as Isabella, “Merciful Heaven!” New York: Johnson, Fry & Co., 1859. Engraving by Robert Thew of Fanny Kemble Butler in costume as Isabella in William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. The sheet measures 10 in x 7 ¼ in, with a vignette-decorated border of scenes from the play around an oval image, showing Frances Anne “Fanny” Kemble Butler (1809-1893) in a full-figure pose. Once an illustration in a book, now disbound, with original tissue guard still attached, now torn. Slight chipping of the upper right-hand corner of the sheet, with no image loss.
Fanny Kemble retired from the stage to marry Pierce Mease Butler in 1834. The couple divorced in 1849, following a protracted court battle and the publication of Fanny’s diary about the treatment of slaves on the plantations of her husband’s vast slaveholdings, Journal of a Residence on a Georgia Plantation in 1838-1839.
Shakespeare’s Works Illustrated by John Gilbert in Six Volumes 1866
George Frederick Cooke as Iago in Othello William Ridley Etching December 31 1800
Original Cruikshank Sketch Signed Twice Inscribed 1875 Presented to Walter Hines Page
