Sentiments and Similes of William Shakespeare by Shakespeare, William - 1851

London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1851. Small octavo. (viii), 100pp. Heavily ornamented with illuminated initials, borders, and tail-pieces. The title page is in full color, with a lush border featuring miniatures of the masks of comedy and tragedy and a portrait of Shakespeare, plus an illustration of Macbeth behind the initial. The grand decoration serves to highlight the editor Henry Noel Humphrey's belief in Shakespeare's wisdom and writing. Here, Humphrey has organized passages from Shakespeare's works into subject categories, such as Humour and Ambition. This copy sturdily bound in black leather with guttapercha designs to both covers. Laid over a gilt sheet, the bulk of the design is devoted to the book's title, a rendition of the theatrical masks, flowers and laurels, and scrollwork, all painted black. At the center, in unpainted guttapercha, is a portrait of Shakespeare in profile (at the upper cover) and a monogram of "WS" (at the lower). Some general rubbing to exterior, rebacked and recased, else near fine. A.e.g. Bookplate of former owner on front paste-down.