Wycherley (William) The Plain-Dealer. A Comedy, first edition, lacks initial blank and advertisement leaf (dagger 4), small hole to C3 with slight loss of text, minor foxing, small ink stain to final leaf, modern half morocco, [Wing W3749; Pforzheimer 1102], 4to, Printed by T[homas] N[ewcomb] for James Magnes and Rich. Bentley, 1677.

⁂ Wycherley (1640-1716) was one of the most popular of the Restoration playwrights and this was his most successful comedy. In this and The Country Wife (1675) he "describes a world he knew. It is not a pleasant world, and although the comic contrivance is masterly, there is no affection in the portraiture." (Cambridge Guide to English Literature). Soon after this play, Wycherley abandoned the theatre and lived a life almost like a character in one of his plays - he married the Countess of Drogheda and after she died he was imprisoned for debt on her estate. King James II paid off his debts and arranged his release; he retired to the family estate and wrote poetry, and married a second time shortly before his death, seemingly motivated by a desire to disinherit his nephew.