COMPLETE TITLE: Der Schauspieler: Ein Werk, worinne die Grundsätze der ganzen körperlichen Beredsamkeit entwickelt werden.

According to some critics, the fragment was written before 1748 because Lessing's brother, Karl, maintained that this fragment was Lessing's first work. Most critics, however, agree on 1754 as the year of composition, both because the work is clearly influenced by Hogarth's Analysis of Beauty (see), which Mylius had translated in that year, and by the ideas of L'art du Théâtre by Riccoboni (see).
The fragment exists in two versions, published for the first time by Lessing's brother in the collection Gotthold Ephraim Lessings Theatralischer Nachlass (Berlin, 1786).
The fragment is published in the collection of writings Lessings sämmtliche Werke, Karlsruhe, im Büreau der deutschen Classiker, 1823, t. IX, Theater (1754-1758), pp. 265-276.
The fragment is published in: Gotthold Ephraim Lessings sämtliche Schriften, vol. 11, edited by Karl Lachmann, Berlin, Voss, 1839, pp. 16-21.
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