1898 First Edition of Howard Thayer Kingsbury’s English Cyrano de Bergerac Translation Inscribed to Edmond Rostand by the American Translator Whose Version Richard Mansfield Brought to the New York Stage

On offer is a highly important association copy of the first edition of Howard Thayer Kingsbury’s English verse translation of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, inscribed in French by the translator directly to Rostand.

According to the art and manuscript dealer who formerly owned this book, it came from the personal library of Edmond Rostand and the date is in Rostand’s hand. See Provenance Notes following the listing for more information. 

The history of this translation is unusually rich. Rostand’s French-language Cyrano de Bergerac became an immediate sensation after its December 1897 Paris premiere, setting off a rapid transatlantic scramble to translate, publish, and stage the play in English. Kingsbury’s version achieved special prominence because it was the text “accepted and played” by actor-manager Richard Mansfield, who opened the American production at New York’s Garden Theatre on October 3, 1898. The theatrical competition was intense: on that same night, Augustin Daly opened a rival English-language production in Philadelphia, starring Charles Richman as Cyrano and Ada Rehan as Roxane.

The Mansfield production was a major American success, running at the Garden Theatre from October 3 to November 26, 1898, and returning there in a 1899–1900 revival with Mansfield again in the title role. Kingsbury’s translation therefore stands as the version most closely tied to Cyrano’s first major American theatrical triumph.

The race to publish English translations was equally crowded. Doubleday & McClure announced the Gertrude Hall translation in October 1898, while Lamson, Wolffe and Company soon announced Kingsbury’s translation, which was  available for sale by early November 1898, according to historical news sources. Other English-language versions appeared in the same period, including translations or editions associated with Gladys Thomas and Mary F. Guillemard, Charles Renauld, Charles F. Rideal, and others. This copy therefore belongs directly to the remarkable 1898 publication and performance scramble that carried Rostand’s French theatrical phenomenon into the English-speaking world.

The present copy is exceptional because Kingsbury inscribed his Mansfield-associated English text back to Rostand himself. The inscription reads:

“à M. Edmond Rostand avec les salutations respectueuses et empressées du traducteur Howard Thayer Kingsbury…le 20 mai, 1912”

[To M. Edmond Rostand, with the respectful and eager salutations of the translator, Howard Thayer Kingsbury… May 20, 1912.]

The 1912 date remains intriguing. It is unclear whether Kingsbury sent the book to Rostand at that late date, or whether the date was added separately. One possible contemporary context is the American and English-language afterlife of Rostand’s later play Chantecler, which played in New York in 1911, and toured into 1912. This play had been translated into English in 1910 by both Louis N. Parker (for its Broadway run) and by Gertrude Hall (the same translator whose Cyrano had been bypassed by Mansfield in favor of Kingsbury’s version in 1898). Any connection, however, remains speculative. What is certain is that this copy unites the French author of Cyrano de Bergerac with the American translator whose version carried the play onto the New York stage in Mansfield’s celebrated production.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Howard Thayer Kingsbury (1870–1937) showed early literary promise at Yale, where he won several writing prizes, earned honors in English, and served on the editorial board of the Yale Literary Magazine. Although he later became best known as a distinguished lawyer, international law specialist, and military legal officer, his translation of Cyrano de Bergerac remains an important literary achievement. Kingsbury’s version was selected by Richard Mansfield for the play’s first major American production, giving him a lasting place in the early English-language history of Rostand’s masterpiece. He also pursued a prominent legal career, including service with Coudert Brothers, work as a special assistant to the U.S. Attorney General in antitrust matters, and leadership within the American Branch of the International Law Association.

Edmond Rostand (1868–1918) was a French poet and dramatist best remembered as the author of Cyrano de Bergerac, one of the most celebrated plays of the modern French stage. Born in Marseille, Rostand emerged as a leading figure of late nineteenth-century Neo-Romantic drama, bringing verse, wit, heroism, and emotional grandeur back to a theatre increasingly dominated by realism and naturalism. Cyrano de Bergerac, first performed in Paris in December 1897, became an immediate sensation and secured Rostand’s international reputation. His other notable works include Les Romanesques, La Princesse Lointaine, L’Aiglon, and Chantecler. He was elected to the Académie française in 1901.

Cyrano de Bergerac was first staged at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris on December 28, 1897, and published in France by Charpentier et Fasquelle in 1898. Kingsbury’s English translation appeared the same year through Lamson, Wolffe & Co., and was the version used by Richard Mansfield when he became the first major actor to play Cyrano in English on the American stage.

Rostand’s play was inspired by the historical Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac (1619–1655), a seventeenth-century French writer known for his bold intellect, satire, and challenges to accepted ideas. Rostand transformed him into something larger than life: a brilliant poet, swordsman, lover, and outsider whose wit and courage made him one of the enduring figures of modern theatre.

PROVENANCE

Acquired by the founder of Katz Fine Manuscripts, then M. Benjamin Katz Fine Books/Rare Manuscripts, in 2008 from Ivo Marc de Galan, trading as IM Therefore Fine Art & Manuscripts. De Galan was associated with Toronto, the Toronto Islands, and later Apeldoorn, Netherlands, and dealt in art, literary manuscripts, illustration, and related historical material. His activity in the field is supported by institutional and scholarly traces, including the National Library of Wales’s 2006 purchase from “Ivo Marc de Galan; Toronto” of a W. H. Davies holograph manuscript and The Victorian Web’s publication of works from the Ivo de Galan Collection. According to de Galan’s 2008 listing, this book came from the personal library of Edmond Rostand and the date is in Rostand’s hand.

Condition: Good+, Original publisher’s cloth with moderate exterior wear, including fraying and slight cloth loss at the head of the spine, a short tear/split at the upper front joint, light rubbing to corners and spine ends, and mild soiling/darkening to boards and spine. Interior generally clean and intact with mild age-toning and minor pencil marks. Presentation inscription remains bold, clear, and highly legible. Published by Lamson, Wolffe & Co., Boston, MDCCCXCVIII [1898 copyright]. Approximately 4.3 x 7 inches.