A Glance at the 'Passion-Play'.

This is a rare or used book from the Berkelouw Rare Books Department.

London: W. H. Harrison 1881. Small octavo bound by Zaehnsdorf of London in contemporary full polished calf (slight discolouration to upper front board) with gilt borders on front & rear boards and inside dentelles. Spine gilt in compartments with raised bands and morocco title-label. Top edge gilt. (168pp.) This item contains a frontispiece several diagrams and musical notations in text. The title-page is printed in red and black ink and the text is printed within a red-lined border. Both the front and rear cloth covers and the original lettered spine strip are neatly mounted and bound in at end of text. First edition. This is a lovely first edition copy of Burton's account of his 1880 visit to Oberammergau to see the great 'Passionsspiel'. Burton explains: I went to the 'great religious drama in the beautiful Highlands of Bavaria' neither to scoff nor to pray? My object was artistic and critical with an Orientalistic and anthropological side; the wish to compare haply to trace some affinity between the survival of the Christian 'Mystery' and the living scenes of El-Islam at Meccah. (p. 13). Burton was ultimately unable to draw any great comparison between the two (p. 160). He doesn't seem to have found the experience particularly edifying. Burton concludes that "if you must 'do' the Passionsspiel do it and leave the place as fast as you can with all the edification you may." (p. 14)