Otway, Thomas.

Thomas Otway (1652-1685) is best known for his tragedy Venice Preserv’d (1682). The son of an impoverished Sussex clergyman, he lived his short life in constant poverty despite having no shortage of noble patrons, and may even have died of starvation. He suffered, besides, from an unrequited passion for the Earl of Rochester’s mistress, the actress Elizabeth Barry. His first writings for the stage were Alcibiades (1675) and Don Carlos, Prince of Spain (1676), the latter based on the same French original as Schiller’s play. He also wrote the successful tragedy The Orphan (1680) and made several adaptations from plays by Molière and Racine.

The author's manuscript of his verse satire The Poet's Complaint of his Muse -- the only surviving autograph literary manuscript of Otway and possibly the printer's copy for this first edition -- was sold at Sotheby's on 8 June 1953 (the Loveday sale), lot 156. It is now in the Bibliotheca Bodmeriana in Switzerland.