Origins of the School for Scandal

by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

The two playlets by Richard Brinsley Sheridan reproduced here, The Slanderers and Sir Peter Teazle, preserve in its seminal state the finest English comedy of the 18th century. They are preserved at the Princeton University Library in the Richard Brinsley Sheridan archive within the Robert H. Taylor Collection, which arrived at Princeton in 1971 and continued to grow. After Mr. Taylor's purchase in 1982 from Bernard Quaritch, Ltd. of the collection assembled by Pickering and Chatto -- an unrivaled assortment of early printed Sheridan material -- the library celebrated the acquisition by issuing a facsimile publication of this pair of playlets in the Sheridan manuscripts. Illustrations.

165 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) was an Irish-born playwright and poet and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. For thirty-two years he was also a Whig Member of the British House of Commons for Stafford (1780–1806), Westminster (1806–1807) and Ilchester (1807–1812). Such was the esteem he was held in by his contemporaries when he died that he was buried at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. He is known for his plays such as The Rivals, The School for Scandal and A Trip to Scarborough.