HELENA MODJESKA

 Collection of five vintage 

Cabinet Cards

1) seated pose, by Morrison, Haymarket Theatre, Chicago

2) Merchant of Venice, 1894 by Sarony, NY

3) Hamlet, 1889, by Sarony, NY

4) Falk NY, in costume

5) Elmer Chickering, Boston in costume

4 1/4" x 6 1/2"

(unsigned)

Condition: very good; 

Three photographs  have a partial  play program on the back listing cast members.

The Collection of five : $850.00

Helena  Modjeska (born Jadwiga Benda) was a famous polish actress 

who specialized in Shakespearean and tragic roles. 

Regarded as the greatest actress in the history of theatre in Poland.

In over 300 roles. 

She was godmother to American actress Ethel Barrymore. For a time  she

lived in Southern California's Orange County. 

Oscar Wilde corresponded with Modjeska, see  December, 1880 letter, page 103,

in the Collected Letters of Oscar Wilde (2000). See also footnotes on pages 90, 95-96, 99, 102,

103, and 55l. 

 Wilde also translated some of Modjeska's poems.

Born: 1840, Krakow, Poland; died: 1909, Newport Beach, California.