The German play is an adaptation of the French play Les Premières armes de Richelieu, by Bayard and Dumanoir. The file contains materials related to rehearsal and performance, including a published copy (Berlin: Eduard Bloch, n.d.; Eduard Bloch's "Volkstheater" Nr. 20), which has been annotated as a prompt-book; and 8 handwritten role books, for the following parts (the complete character list): Herzog von Richelieu; Herzogin von Noailles; Diana von Noailles, Herzogin von Richelieu; Baron von Bellechasse; Baronin von Bellechasse; Chevalier von Matignon; Alice von Nocé, Ehrenfräulein; and Dubois, Richelieu's Diener. The published copy dates from around 1868-1870; it contains a full-page title illustration with color added of Clara Ungar (1840-1916) performing in the role of Richelieu. All of the items have been labeled by hand as the property of Theodor Bloch, who was active in German-language theater in Philadelphia beginning around 1873 and who ran a theater lending library from around 1880 to the mid 1890s. Names of actors and actresses written on the covers of role books generally seem to reflect 3 different casts over time, with the most recent dating from the early 1880s, the previous one from around 1873-1875, and another from a somewhat earlier time. (The collection's holdings of theater newspapers and playbills contain no reference to this play.)
