[ BINDING]. Almanach für Privatbühnen. Auf das Jahr 1817. xiv, [2], 346, [6] pp. With 2 engraved plates executed by H. Reinhold after designs by H. Näke. 8vo., 143 x 90 mm, bound in original publisher's boards, turquoise edges. Leipzig: G.J. Göschen, [1816].

First Edition. An exquisite German Romantic theatrical publisher's binding, decorated with engraved designs of putti and dramatic masks. The upper cover depicts the theatre curtain being drawn by two putti; the lower cover shows the silhouette of an actress with two masks behind the same curtain; on the spine are five theatrical masks.

This work was edited by Adolf Müllner (1774-1829), the noted playwright. Müllner was an enthusiastic actor and in 1810 started a theater at Weissenfels for amateur performances. His Die Verlobten (1815) was very successful in professional performance in Vienna, and Die Schuld (1816), a fate tragedy, was performed throughout Germany. Müllner, a nephew of G.A. Bürger, was also the author of the first German detective story Der Kaliber (1829). Lacking two plates, light wear to head and tail.

Kirchner I, 4324.