Title Page
The School of Reform; or, How to Rule a Husband: a Comedy in Five Acts by Thomas Mortan is the featured book for September 2010. Printed in the early-1850s by John Cumberland of London, this brief volume (only 65 pages) includes a interesting woodcut featuring Mr. Ferment and Tyke, two characters from the play:
Frontispiece from The School of Reform
Thomas Morton was born in the city of Durham in England. Morton turned to playwriting after abandoning his legal studies in London. He wrote about 25 plays, several of which had great popularity, among them Columbus, or a World Discovered (1792); Children in the Wood (1793); Zorinski (1795); The Way to Get Married (1796); A Cure for the Heart Ache (1797); Speed the Plough (1798); Secrets Worth Knowing (1798); The Blind Girl, or A Receipt for Beauty (1801); The School of Reform, or How to Rule a Husband (1805); Town and Country, or Which Is Best? (1807); The Knight of Snowdown (1811); Education (1813); The Slave (1816); Methinks I See My Father (1818); A Roland for an Oliver (1819); Henri Quatre (1820); School for Grown Children (1826); and The Invincibles (1828).
If you would like to view this book, please come to Special Collections on the second floor of the Bartle Library (off of the North Reading Room) and ask for PR5097.M5 S35.
Description of costumes in The School of Reform