The play was first published in 1880. The file contains materials related to rehearsal and performance, including a published copy (Berlin: Eduard Bloch, n.d.; Dramatische Werke von Hugo Bürger, Erster Theil ), which has been annotated as a prompt-book; and 16 handwritten role books, for the following parts (the complete list of characters): Frau Delmont; Robert, ihr Sohn; Marie, ihre Tochter; Paul Gersdorff; Von Saint Foye; Heinrich Potter; Sophie; Hildegard; Miss Cragg; Hollmann; Benedict; eine Wirthin; erster Kurgast; zweiter Kurgast; erste Dame; and zweite Dame. The author's Dramatische Werke in 4 volumes were published in 1881-1882. The cover of the role book for Gersdorff is written on the reverse of a blank stationery form of the Philadelphia editor and publisher Henry Frank, designed for use in the 1890s. Names of actors and actresses noted on the covers of role books are recognizable from the casts of other German-language plays performed in Philadelphia, and the majority of the role books reflect two different casts over time, one dating from the mid 1890s (the names noted in the published copy on the page with the character list also stem from a performance around that time), and an earlier performance around the mid 1880s. The published copy and the role book for Gersdorff are labeled as the property of Theodor Bloch, who was active in German-language theater from at least the early 1870s until the mid 1890s, first as an actor and later as a prompter, and who ran a theater lending library. (The collection's holdings of theater newspapers and playbills contain no reference to this play.)
