Tickets and Passes of London from the David Young Collection

Theatre and Entertainment, ST JAMES’S, Willis’s Rooms, 1792, paper, unissued, for Mr Harrison’s Night, Friday May 18th 1792, by L. Schiavonetti after H. Tresham, Apollo playing lyre while riding on sea-monster, 134 x 102mm (cf. Young p.23). Light foxing, otherwise very fine £40-50

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Tickets and Passes of London from the David Young Collection.

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Provenance: Bt T. Millett June 2009.

Willis’s Rooms, King street, St James’s square, formerly Almack’s Assembly Rooms and originally opened in 1765, was a suite of apartments capable of accommodating nearly 1,000 persons. James Willis (†1794), proprietor of the nearby Thatched House tavern, acquired a sub-lease of the rooms and his descendants continued to manage them until the mid-1880s. His son, James Willis Jr (†1847) was the manager during the height of their popularity, between 1810 and 1830