Excerpt from Annals of the Liverpool Stage: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time It is not a whit surprising that although the annals of most of the other provincial theatres of importance have long been published, no one hitherto has written any record of the Liverpool stage. The difficulties of the task lie in the fact that data are at once too sparse and too abundant. Owing to the incompleteness of the collection of playbills in the Liverpool Free Library, there are many gaps in the story of the Liverpool Theatres which it is well-nigh impossible to fill This is all the more regrettable as the remoter period in the annals of our local drama is much more individual and characteristic than the record of the last half century. Of the era which came in with the dawn of the touring system data are superabundant; on the whole the period is colourless and unpicturesque, and its records call for rigid compression and deft selection. It has been my aim to take a rapid birds-eye view of the whole panorama, noting everything vital, and preserving vivid colour where it presented itself. I cannot hope under the serious limitations of matter and space to have fully succeeded in my labour of love. My fellow-townsmen must take the will for the deed. Ample acknowledgment must be frankly and freely made to those who lent a willing hand in furtherance of the task.

My gratitude is due to that learned stage historian, Mr. W. J. Lawrence, for his great assistance in kindly furnishing a mass of valuable material, as well as for his expert advice on many moot points. I also extend my thanks to Mr. Ronald Stewart-Brown, Mr. E. R.

Dibdin, Mr. Peter Entwistle, Mr. George T. Shaw, and to Mr. Peter Cowell and the assistant librarians of the Liverpool Free Library, for much help kindly and courteously given. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.

com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.