Rip Van Winkle, as Played by Joseph Jefferson

199 pp. Green cloth, gilt titles and elaborate gilt floral borders around blue and purple nature scene on front board, gilt mask on spine. Black-and-white frontispiece portrait of Jefferson, photographic plates from stage play, etc., throughout text. "The text of Rip Van Winkle, as played by Joseph Jefferson, is here for the first time published. The aim has been to supply such illustrations and explanations as will best recall the play to those who have seen it. To this end, Mrs. Cora Hamilton Bell has, with Mr. Jefferson's approval, amplified and supplemented the stage directions, and has supplied descriptive prefaces to each set. Many of the illustrations are direct reproductions from photographs of Mr. Jefferson in the character of 'Rip.' Those in the text are mostly from drawings by Richard Creifelds, made directly from scenes in the play. The portrait is from a photograph of Mr. Jefferson recently taken, and is the one best liked by him. Most interesting of all, perhaps, is the reproduction of a painting by Mr. Jefferson himself of a scene in the Catskill Mountains. There have also been added a number of flashlight pictures from scenes on the stage." Joseph Jefferson was a popular American actor and comedian, though his adaptation of the story of Rip Van Winkle and his role in the stage play are his most notable achievements. He reprised the role of the lead character in several silent films.