Main Body

The collection's library has around 10,000 accessible volumes. These cover every aspect of the live performing arts and include a number of rare volumes. The book collection is not open access, but researchers are welcome to avail themselves of any of the books in the Collection whilst they are visiting.

The Collection has runs of a number of periodicals, although these may not all be complete. They do, however include good runs of THE ERA, THEATRE WORLD, LONDON THEATRE RECORD (now THEATRE RECORD), THE THEATRE, PLAYS AND PLAYERS and PLAY PICTORIAL. We also have a good run of THE ERA ALMANACK starting in 1868.

Many of the books that Mander and Mitchenson wrote, sometimes in collaboration with others, have become recognised as the definitive works on their subjects.

HAMLET THROUGH THE AGES Edited by Herbert Marshall (Published by Rockliff in 1952. Republished by Books for Libraries Press in 1971.)Mander and Mitchenson’s first book, published in 1952, illustrates every important change in the production of HAMLET. Scenery, costume, disposition and grouping, interpretation, symbolism and ‘business’ from productions for stage, film and even for the toy theatre are fully illustrated.

THEATRICAL COMPANION TO SHAW (Published by Rockliff in 1954. Republished by Folcroft Library Editions in 1971, Norwood Editions in 1976, and R West in 1977.)
A pictorial record of the first performances of the plays of George Bernard Shaw from 1892 to 1950. Illustrations show costumes and settings of the earliest productions to be photographed, with synopses, lists of characters and scenes with casts and dates of all London revivals. There are historical notes on each play and programme notes by Shaw himself.

THEATRICAL COMPANION TO MAUGHAM (Published by Rockliff in 1955.)
A similar volume to the above which includes information on an unproduced play THE ROAD UPHILL, the theme of which was used by Maugham in his later novel THE RAZOR’S EDGE. The whole work was undertaken with the approval of Maugham himself, who allowed quotations to be made from his writings as a commentary on the plays.

THEATRICAL COMPANION TO COWARD (Published by Rockliff in 1957. Revised and updated in 1999 by Barry Day and Sheridan Morley.)
This definitive guide to the works of Coward.

THE ARTIST AND THE THEATRE (Published by Heinemann in 1955.)
Somerset Maugham’s collection of theatre pictures was given to the Royal National Theatre and is now on loan to the Theatre Museum in London. Mander and Mitchenson’s book is not only a catalogue of the collection, but an intriguing essay in deduction and identification, with notes on the actors and plays depicted.

A PICTURE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH THEATRE (Published by Hulton Press in 1957.)
Well over 500 pictures from the Mander and Mitchenson Theatre Collection and other sources are divided into convenient historical periods, from the early, pre-Elizabethan beginnings to the time of publication.

A PICTURE HISTORY OF OPERA by Philip Hope-Wallace in collaboration with Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson (Published by Hulton Press in 1959.)
This volume is the answer to all who want to know what early productions and famous singers of the past looked like: Patti in a magnificent photograph of 1864; Tamagno, the original Othello in 1887; the first Bayreuth Parsifal and many others.

THE GAY TWENTIES by J.C. Trewin with Raymond Mander and Jon Mitchenson (Published by Macdonald in 1958.)
The decade’s quest for novelty and diversion found no livelier expression than on the stage, so that in recreating the theatre of the decade in words and pictures, this book also recaptures the very spirit of the Gay Twenties, a world reborn.

THE TURBULENT THIRTIES by J.C. Trewin with Raymond Mander and Jon Mitchenson (Published by Macdonald in 1960.)
This was a time of exciting new dramatists and of new players who would become great names – Olivier, Gielgud, Ashcroft; a decade of discoveries and disasters, of triumph and tragedies, which ended in war and gallant defiance with the curtain still well up.

A PICTURE HISTORY OF GILBERT AND SULLIVAN (Published by Vista Books in 1962.)
A lavishly illustrated volume, with a foreword by Bridget D’Oyly Carte covering the history of all the famous Gilbert and Sullivan operas, their first performances and many subsequent revivals.

BRITISH MUSIC HALL - A STORY IN PICTURES Published by Studio Vista in 1965. (Revised edition published by Gentry Books in 1974.)
The complete story of British Music Hall from its inception in the crowded taverns of London in the early nineteenth century to modern times, the book has become the recognised textbook and source for accurate information on the subject, sought after by students and Music Hall devotees alike.

THE THEATRES OF LONDON (Published by Rupert Hart Davis in 1961. New, revised and enlarged edition published by New English Library in 1975.)
This book provides the first full description, since Barton-Baker’s history was revised up to 1903, not only of the public theatres of the West End, but also of the club theatres and buildings which were originally designed as theatres, but are now used for other purposes.

THE LOST THEATRES OF LONDON( Published by Rupert Hart Davis in 1968. New, revised and enlarged edition published by New English Library in 1976.)
This important book is a definitive history, invaluable to the expert and fascination to the ordinary playgoer, presenting the stories of those theatres which have fallen victim to the developer, to war and even to the Official Receiver.

MUSICAL COMEDY (Published by Peter Davies in 1969.)
The lively and fascinating story of Musical Comedy had never before been told with all the pictures that reflect its full pageantry of costume, staging and stars. This book is given Mander and Mitchenson’s serious, carefully documented treatment and provides a useful and enjoyable introduction to the subject.

REVUE (Published by Peter Davies in 1971.)
This offers another invaluable and entertaining study of a genre that had its formal beginnings over 150 years ago. An excellent historical introduction, 225 pictures and an exhaustive range of indexes, together with Noel Coward’s foreword, make it a splendid possession for everyone interested in or connected with the theatre.

PANTOMIME (Published by Peter Davies in 1973.)
The logical completion of the history of the lighter musical stage covered by Music Hall, Musical Comedy and Revue, this is a fully illustrated and meticulously researched book in the history of this peculiarly British institution that is full of fascinating detail for both the aficionado and the beginner.

THE WAGNER COMPANION (Published by WH Allen in 1977.)
Following their Companions to Shaw, Maugham and Coward, Mander and Mitchenson turned their attention to the opera, and it is fitting that it should be devoted to Richard Wagner whose works are essentially Music Dramas. All his operas are analyzed individually with extensive synopses, historical notes and complete cast lists of the first productions in Germany, Britain and America.

VICTORIAN AND EDWARDIAN ENTERTAINMENT FROM OLD PHOTOGRAPHS (Published by BT Batsford in 1978.)
For diversity and for public enthusiasm at every level, the Victorian and Edwardian periods were the greatest epoch for entertainment there had ever been. Music hall, ballet, theatre, opera, entertainers, fairs, pierrots, street performers, exhibitions, the circus, music… the list could be indefinitely prolonged. And here they all are.

GUIDE TO THE MAUGHAM COLLECTION OF THEATRICAL PAINTINGS (Published by Heinemann for the National Theatre in 1980.)
This book was published to accompany a permanent exhibition at the National Theatre of W Somerset Maugham’s bequest of his collection of oil paintings and watercolours that were related to the theatre.