Published by Primary Source Microfilm

The Frank Pettingell Collection of Plays in the Library from the University of Kent at Canterbury

This collection provides new insight into the nature of drama and the 19th-century popular theater in Britain. Actor Frank Pettingell acquired the collection from Arthur Williams, an actor-dramatist of the 19th century. Williams saved working texts, in holograph, fair copies, typescript or paste-up.

Series One: Manuscript and Typescript Plays

These plays provide new insight into the nature of drama as a whole and into the workings of British popular theater in the 19th century, both in London and in the provinces where the theater was very much alive.

Part One: "Arbarbanel the Hebrew" to "Exit by Mistake": 22 reels
Part Two: "A Fable of the Fenians" to "My Uncle's Pet": 26 reels
Part Three:"Naomi the Gypsy Girl" to "The Swindler": 25 reels
Part Four: "The Taylor of Eisbach" to "Zulema the Circassian Beauty," and other materials: 22 reels
Part Five: Typescript and outsize manuscript plays: "Across the Continent" to "Work Girls of London": 18 reels

Series One: 113 reels

Series Two: Pantomimes

The second series of plays in the Pettingell Collection reproduces over 300 pantomime libretti, reflecting the tremendous popularity of this form of entertainment in the 19th century.

Series Two: 20 reels

Series Three: Rare Printed Plays

This series provides a unique look at the world of 19th-century theater by making available a host of printed plays collected and annotated by some of Britain's finest working actors of the period.

Part One: Abbott, William-Byron, Henry James: 32 reels
Part Two: Calcroft, John William-Fry, Edward P. : 26 reels
Part Three: Galsworthy, John-Lytton, Edward; George Bulward, First Lord: 27 reels

Series Three: 85 reels

Complete Collection: 218 reels