Tales from Shakespeare with Illustrations from the Boydell Gallery

I, Leicester Square, London : Bickers and Son, 1877. 1877 at title page; no other dates. Stated verso title page and repeated at bottom of final page: "Chiswick Press: -c. Whittingham, Tooks Court, Chancery Lane." Sienna red full cloth beveled boards, ornate gilt cover and spine titles, design, moderate shelf wear, rub, discoloration. Ornate gilt cover design features scene of Puck seated on mushroom with guiding wand and fairy nymphs ascending to glowing full moon; in b.g. is rock grotto and and black silhouette of bat surrounded by gilded borders. Spine features gilt and black design with titles on gilt relief field, Puck on mushroon at base; ornate flourishes and dentelle fill the detailed areas with crosses, etc. Back boards with blind-stamped borders. Gilt text block at all sides. Light yellow endpapers. Pages generally very good, clean; some fox to frontis and title page, moderate at endpapers. Antiquarian inscription at half-title page: "C. Reynard, from TF 1877." Bind good; hinges intact. Features twelve b&w engravings from the Boydell Gallery; very sharp. Alderman John Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery, is an extraordinary combination of the aesthetic and the nationalistic featuring 167 paintings of Shakespeare's plays in a variety of styles by eminent artists including James Barry.. The prospectus for the Boydell venture states that "the foregoing work is undertaken in Honour of Shakespeare, with a view to encourage and improve the Arts of Painting and Engraving in this Kingdom." List of plates in order: "Frontispiece: The Merchant of Venice; The Tempest; The Winter's Tale; Much Ado About Nothing; The Two Gentlemen of Verona; Cymbeline; King Lear; MacBeth; The Taming of the Shriew; Measure for Measure; Romeo and Juliet; and, Othello." Contents: "The Tempest; A Midsummer Night's Dream; The Winter's Tale; Much Ado About Nothing; As you Like It; The Two Gentlemen of Verona; The Merchant of Venice; Cymbeline; King Lear; MacBeth; All's Well that Ends Well; The Taming of the Shrew; The Comedy of Errors; Measure for Measure; Twelth Night; or, What You Will; Timon aof Athens; Romeo and Juliet; Hamlet, Prince of Denmakr; Othello; and, Pericles, Prince of Tyre." 386 pages. Insured post.. First Edition Thus. Hard Cover. Good. Illus. by Barry, James; et Al.. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" Tall.