AustLit

'In 2007, through the generosity of the Canadian Government, the National Library of Australia acquired a Sydney Theatre playbill dated 30 July 1796. It is the earliest playbill to have been located from that theatre, though a playbill for Saturday 23 July 1796 was reproduced in several English newspapers in 1797 and David Collins has left us with an account of the opening production on Saturday 16 January 1796, with a partial list of the actors involved, and a brief note on a charity benefit for a soldier's widow, Catherine Eades, on Thursday 4 February 1796. The new playbill has been discussed in an excellent article by Elaine Hoag, who first discovered it. Her article contains valuable observations on the subject matter of the bill but is primarily concerned with a bibliographical description of it and an account of its provenance. The present article deals exclusively with the bill's subject matter, and is arranged in the order in which the matter arises from the playbill. Robert Jordan.