The Lost Plays of Ralph Sheldon (1623–1684).

This article examines the provenance and dispersal of a significant collection of early English plays assembled by the Warwickshire antiquary Ralph Sheldon (1623–1684), originally bound in fifty-six volumes and sold at Christie's in 1781. The sale involved prominent collectors such as David Garrick, Edmond Malone, and the Earl of Charlemont, with Malone acquiring many volumes that later contributed to the Bodleian Library’s holdings. The collection comprised two main parts: an earlier set of plays dating from 1593 to 1643, catalogued by Anthony Wood, and a later group of Restoration dramas, which resurfaced in the 1865 Sotheby’s sale of Charlemont’s library but suffered damage in a fire. The article traces the complex chain of ownership, highlighting the roles of key figures in eighteenth-century book collecting and the eventual fragmentation and partial loss of this important dramatic archive.