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[THEATER]. GROSS, Samuel Eberly (1843-1913). In The Circuit Court of the United States, Northern District of Illinois… Samuel Eberly Gross Vs. A. M. Palmer, Richard Mansfield and Richard Mansfield Company. Master's Report and Decree. [Chicago: Bernard & Miller, 1902]. 8vo. 68, [12, blank] pp. Original printed wrappers bound-in contemporary half brown morocco over marbled boards, spine lettered in gilt (binding worn, joints and hinges cracking, ffep. loose, rear binder's blank and rfep dampstained, related newspaper clippings affixed to rear blanks). Fair. FIRST EDITION OF THIS LEGAL DECREE, INSCRIBED BY SAMUEL GROSS ON THE FRONT WRAPPER: “To Hon. Samuel W. Pennypacker with the compliments of Samuel E. Gross Nov. 22, 1910." In December of 1897, Edmond Rostand's (1868-1918) legendary play, Cyrano de Bergerac, debuted in the United States to universal acclaim. However, in Chicago, Samuel E. Gross, a successful real estate developer asserted that his play, The Merchant Prince of Cornville, was the plagiarized basis of Cyrano de Bergerac. Gross claimed he submitted his play to the Parisian theater where Rostand was working, but it had been rejected. Since Rostand had supposedly been at the theater at the time Gross' play was submitted, Gross surmised that Rostand had plagiarized his work. Although this claim was ludicrous, Gross successfully took legal action and was able to ban the performance of Cyrano de Bergerac in the United States for nearly 10 years. Gross was awarded a token $1 in damages (legal fees nearly bankrupted Gross). In 1920, a federal judge ruled against Gross' widow and declared that Cyrano de Bergerac was entirely invented and written by Rostand, thus resuming performances in the United States. This book is a souvenir from Gross' strange quest for “justice." The recipient of this inscription had been the governor of Pennsylvania from 1903-1907.