"The Complete Works of William Wycherley" edited by Montague Summers - The Nonesuch Press, 1924 limited edition of 900 sets, this being no 669, sets on antique paper - complete in four volumes - 25cmx18cm - condition: good, in red half decorative leather binding, some stains, few boards detached, complete. William Wycherley (/wɪtʃərˈliː/ witch-ər-LEE; April 1641 – 1 January 1716) was an English playwright best known for writing the plays The Country Wife and The Plain Dealer. The Country Wife was produced in 1672 or 1673 and published in 1675.[4] The play reflects an aristocratic and anti-Puritan ideology and was controversial for its sexual explicitness. The title itself contains a lewd pun on the first syllable of "country".[clarification needed] The play is based on several plays by Molière, with additions to suit the tastes of 1670s London audiences: colloquial prose dialogue in place of Molière's verse, a complicated, fast-paced plot tangle, and many sex jokes. It uses two plot devices: a rake's trick of pretending impotence to avoid suspicion while having clandestine affairs with married women, and the arrival in London of an inexperienced young "country wife", with her discovery of the joys of town life, especially London men. The Plain Dealer, based on Molière's Le Misanthrope, was highly praised by John Dryden and John Dennis, though it was also condemned for its obscenity by many.[who?] The title character is Captain Manly, a sailor who doubts the motives of everyone he meets except for his sweetheart, Olivia, and his friend, Vernish. When Olivia jilts him and marries Vernish, Captain Manly attempts to gain revenge by sending a pageboy (who, unknown to him, is a girl in disguise and is in love with him) to seduce Olivia. When the truth of the page's identity is discovered, Manly marries her instead.