Performance Handbill, April 8, 1768.

• imprint_number: 1768.005
• title: By permission of the Worshipful the Mayor of Williamsburg, At the old Theatre near the Capitol, by the Virginia Company of Comedians, on Friday, the 8th of April will be presented a Tragedy, called Venice Preserved, or a Plot Discovered. … To which will be added a ballad Opera, called Damon and Phillida.
• sequence_number: 5
• year: 1768
• place_issued: Williamsburg
• issuing_press: Purdie & Dixon
• author: Virginia Company of Comedians
• notes: The mayor of Williamsburg was merchant James Cocke (1 Dec. 1767 to 30 Nov. 1768). The Virginia Company of Comedians conducted at least nine performances between April 4 and June 8 of 1768. Each show was advertised in advance, with a promotional handbill for each show printed in advance, and a detailed playbill the issued the day of the performance. Of the nine known performances, promotional handbills for only four of the advertised shows and one show-time playbill have survived.
  This is one of the surviving imprints; production was uncredited by Hummel, but is assigned here to Purdie & Dixon based on the company's advertising. They advertised all of their performances in the Purdie & Dixon Gazette, but only about half of them in that of William Rind; moreover, these performances were concurrent with the meetings of the General Assembly and the General Court, when Rind's press was producing work for the public-printing concession, making the Purdie & Dixon press the most likely origin.
  
  
• Related Bios:
  • John Dixon Sr.
  • Alexander Purdie, Sr.

This version of the Index of Virginia Printing was a gift from the estate of the site's creator, David Rawson. The content contained herein will not be updated, as it is part of the Library of Virginia's personal papers collection. For more information, please see David Rawson Index of Virginia Printing website. Accession 53067. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.