LETTER FROM THE FOUNDER OF THE ABBEY THEATRE, DUBLIN HORNIMAN (Annie Elizabeth Fredericka, 1860-1937, Procured the Abbey Theatre in 1904 for the Irish National Theatre Society)

Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed correpondent saying she has booked in the date “for the visit to Leicester. As I speak without notes or M.S. it is well to call it ‘a talk’. I’ll take whichever branch of my ‘shop’ which you would find the more amusing - personal experiences - actual theatre working - dramatists and their ways, in all my idea is to make people understand that in the theatres we are human beings like themselves. To give an example, the theatre cat is as much an individual as the cat who lives at our houses. I am always glad to answer questions at the end & do not mind being ‘heckled’. Thank you very much for your kind invitation, I accept it with pleasure...”, 2 sides 8vo., 1h Montagu Mansions, Portman Square headed paper, re-addressed from 110 High Street, Manchester, 4th December

Frederick John Horniman's daughter, Annie Elizabeth Fredericka Horniman was an English theatre patron and student of the Slade School of Art. She established the Abbey Theatre, Dublin and the Gaiety Theatre, Manchester, the first regional repertory theatre company in Britain. She was an associate and patron of several influential writers including W. B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and members of the Manchester School of dramatists.

Item Date:  1914

Stock No:  41869