A wonderful surviving issue of The Play Pictorial, No. 88, devoted to The Dollar Princess, and a beautiful piece of Edwardian theatre and social history.

Published in London in the early 20th century, The Play Pictorial documented contemporary theatrical productions through photographs, portraits, articles and advertising. This issue features Lily Elsie as Alice, one of the great stars and celebrated beauties of the Edwardian stage.

What makes the magazine especially lovely are the advertisements scattered throughout. There are superb full-colour Swan & Edgar fashion plates, showing the extravagant hats, fur coats, muffs and sweeping skirts being sold from their Regent Street and Piccadilly premises. Elsewhere are wonderfully evocative advertisements for corsets, trusses, beauty and fashion products, restaurants, hotels, fountain pens, cigarettes and other glimpses of everyday Edwardian London.

The theatrical pages include portraits and production material relating to The Dollar Princess, alongside the advertisements that originally financed the publication. Together they make this far more than a theatre programme, it is a fascinating snapshot of fashionable London at the beginning of the 20th century.

The cover is particularly beautiful, with a softly coloured portrait of Miss Lily Elsie as Alice, surrounded by the characteristic decorative border of The Play Pictorial.

An excellent piece for a collector of Edwardian ephemera, theatre history, fashion history or early advertising, and equally beautiful displayed open at one of the colour fashion pages.

Details

Original The Play Pictorial, No. 88

The Dollar Princess

Volume XV

Published in London

Early 20th century, c.1910

Original colour cover featuring Lily Elsie

Illustrated throughout with photographs and period advertisements

Includes striking colour Swan & Edgar fashion advertising

Condition

Over a century old and showing the expected signs of age and handling, including wear and small imperfections to the edges and cover. The pages have survived remarkably attractively and retain their wonderful period colour. Please study the photographs as these form an important part of the description.

A scarce and wonderfully atmospheric survivor of Edwardian London.