Search Results: Books by shakespeare

London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1939. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Very Good. Ex-lib with usual stamps etc. Shakespeare quartos in collotype facsimile no. 1. Boards clean and undamaged with blind-stamped borders and gilt titling to spine. Little read. Nice copy.

This is an excellent example of the Second Folio, the second edition of Shakespeare's collected plays. This is "incomparably the most important work in the English language" (Jackson, Pforzheimer Catalogue).
The First Folio, published in 1623, was such a success that just nine years later the collection was printed again. The Second Folio venture was undertaken by a group of booksellers and rights holders, some of whom had been members of the First Folio syndicate. The massive book includes 36 plays, half of which had not been printed prior to the First Folio, as well as commendatory verses and dedicatory epistles by contemporary admirers of Shakespeare. One of these, John Milton's "An Epitaph on the admirable Dramaticke Poet, W. Shakespeare," was Milton's first appearance in print.
For almost four centuries Shakespeare's transcendent genius has been recognized. In 1623 Ben Jonson wrote of Shakespeare, "He was not of an age, but for all time." In 1840 Thomas Carlyle called Shakespeare,… Read More

London: for H. Herringman, E. Brewster, and R. Bentley, 1685. The fourth folio edition of Shakespeare's plays, the title-page is in first state, without Chiswell’s name in the imprint. Portrait frontispiece after Martin Droeshout with ten line poem by Ben Johnson entitled ‘to the reader’ beneath. Woodcut printer’s device on titlepage (McKerrow 263) and decorative woodcut initials. Large folio (347x225mm), bound in very handsome 19th century full brown paneled morocco, the think boards paneled in double-ruled blind and with blind stamped corner pieces, the spine with tall raised bands ruled in blind, the compartments each with a central gilt leaf device, one compartment gilt lettered, turn-ins beautifully gilt tooled, endpapers marbled, a.e.g. [12], 272, [2], 328, 303, [1]. A wonderful copy, in all very fresh and handsomely presented, the binding with only the most minor evidence of age, very minor scattered light foxing or staining, seven leaves supplied from a slightly shorter copy… Read More

London: for H. Herringman, E. Brewster, and R. Bentley, 1685. The Fourth Folio, a tall copy in handsome diced russia A notably tall and handsome copy of the Fourth Folio, the last of the 17th-century editions of Shakespeare's works, and the most grandly produced.The 1623 first folio was edited by John Heminge (d. 1630) and Henry Condell (d. 1627), and seven plays were added by Philip Chetwin (d. 1680) for the third folio of 1663, of which only one, Pericles, is today recognized as the work of Shakespeare. This fourth folio was a straight reprint of the third, and was issued by Henry Herringman in conjunction with other booksellers, with three settings of the title-page. In common with the Third, the Fourth Folio dropped the final "e" from Shakespeare's name, a spelling that persisted until the beginning of the 19th century. The most immediately striking aspect of the Fourth Folio is its height: Herringman and his co-publishers used a larger paper size to increase the number of lines per page and… Read More

ìIncomparably The Most Important Work In The English Languageî The Fourth Folio Edition of 'Shakespeareís Plays' A Beautiful Tall Copy, With Seven New Plays SHAKESPEAR[E], William. Mr. William Shakespearís Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. Published according to the true Original Copies. Unto which is added, Seven Plays, Never before Printed in Folio: viz. Pericles Prince of Tyre. The London Prodigal. The History of Thomas Lord Cromwel. Sir John Oldcastle Lord Cobham. The Puritan Widow. A Yorkshire Tragedy. The Tragedy of Locrine. The Fourth Edition. London: Printed for H. Herringman, E. Brewster, and R. Bentley, 1685. The Fourth Folio edition of Shakespeareís plays, first state of the imprint (without Chiswellís name). Tall copy. Large folio (14 1/2 x 9 1/4 inches; 368 x 233 mm). [12], 96, 99-160, 163-254, 243 [i.3. 253]-272, [1], [1, blank], 328, 303, [3, blank] pp. (page 33 is numbered 23, 107 is numbered 109, 109 is 111, 190 is 186, 191 is 187, 219 is 221, 246 is 234, 253 repeated… Read More

London: Printed for H. Herringman, E. Brewster, and R. Bentley, at the Anchor in the New Exchange, The Crane in St. Paul's Church-Yard, and in Russel-Street Covent-Garden, London, 1685. Full morocco. Near fine. 4th folio, 1st issue of Shakespeare's plays, the heart of English literature. 19th century full black morocco, fine condition and unrestored, beautiful beyond good fortune and with all of the visual satisfaction so prized by the parts of us that are superficial, a particularly appropriate and resonant antique. That said, these folios should be valued from the inside out and that is where this one's merits excel. Flaws first: The portrait has some light foxing (mostly at the margins), the title page and 5% of the text pages have intermittent stains, there are a few small chips and tears at the edges (all of them confined to the blank margins), some of them closed, and some of them left alone, tiny rust holes of no impact, and half a dozen margins are very slightly miscut, but don't be deceived… Read More

Milan: Rizzoli Editore. 1975. First edition. First edition. Limited edition of 35 personalised copies, signed by Dalí on the title page. With an original gouache painting signed and dated '67 by Dalí lower right. Folio. Publisher's full brown morocco, titles in gilt and white to the upper cover and spine, white silk endpapers and gilt inner dentelles. Printed on handmade paper with Dalí watermark. Illustrated throughout with 10 reproductions after gouache paintings by Salvador Dali. Portfolio bound in full black morocco with titles in gilt to the upper cover housing the original gouache on papier d'Arches (sheet size 378 x 279mm).�With a second portfolio in quarter morocco over white silk boards, titles embossed to the upper cover, containing the full suite of loose prints on heavy card. Together with a certificate of authentication signed by the publisher. Also with a letter signed by Dalí and a certificate from Editions d'Art signed and dated Oct. 1975… Read More

Engraved portrait by Droeshout with verses beneath, this leaf cut round and inlaid but all engraving present, elsewhere some expert and unobtrusive repairs to short tears in lower margins, slightly entering the text at leaf Hh5, *Ccc4, and Fff6, and the line border at Rr6, all without loss of letters or paper, leaves F2 and Xxx4 shaved at head touching the line border, Aaaa3 and 4 (a bifolium) with fore-margins unevenly trimmed, with the occasional spot or stain and a few small ink-marks. But for the inlaid portrait and the few unobtrusive repairs, this is a fresh, unwashed and unsophisticated copy, recently bound by Philip Dusel in full blind-panelled dark calf, gilt spine label, preserving the nineteenth-century marbled edges (also visible on the leaf with the inlaid portrait). Early engraved armorial bookplate of the Duke of Cleveland pasted to title verso, also with nineteenth-century bookplates of Hon. Frederick Vane and Lord Barnard of Raby Castle
(see below).
Fourth edition, issue without… Read More

London: Printed for H. Herringman, and are to be sold by Joseph Knight and Francis Saunders, 1685. First edition of the Fourth Folio of Shakespeare. Bound in full brown morocco, elaborately gilt-decorated spine. The fourth folio is the final and most magnificent of the four 17th-century folio editions of Shakespeare's plays. The Fourth Folio "contains the additional seven plays that first appeared in the 1663 edition [including the authentic Pericles, Prince of Tyre], as well as a good deal of correction and modernization of the text designed to make it easier to read and understand" (Folger's Choice). Old paper repair to verso of title-page, several other very minor paper repairs. Some browning and minimal staining, a very good example, facsimile frontispiece. As in some other copies, as Greg notes, number of errors in signatures have been corrected in manuscript, presumably at the time of publication. Although there is no accurate census of the number of folios still extant today, it is believed… Read More

Folio. [xii], 272, [2], 328, 303 pp. Our copy has the following facsimiles: 1. Engraved portrait; 2. A2 ("To the Great Variety of Readers"); 3. A4 ("Names of principal actors"); 4. D2 (pp. 39-40); 5. Z4 ("The names of the Actors...."); and 6. CCCC2 (the final leaf). Early nineteenth century full calf, ruled in gilt and blind and cross-hatched, rebacked, spine with gilt decorations; some staining but overall a good copy. Fourth folio edition, first state, without Chiswell's name in the imprint. This was the last of the first four editions of Shakespeare's collected plays printed in the seventeenth century. The Fourth Folio contains the additional seven plays that first appeared in the 1663 [third folio] edition as well as a number of corrections and modernization of the language of the text designed to make it easier to use. It became the edition that later publications of Shakespeare's plays were derived from. It is larger than the earlier folios, printed on Royal stock using a larger type and wider… Read More

[London]: [D]esigned, written out, and illuminated by Alberto Sangorski [Colophon], 1920. 255 x 212 mm. (10 1/8 x 8 1/2"). 25, [3] pp. ELEGANT LIGHT OLIVE GREEN CRUSHED MOROCCO, GILT AND INLAID [by Riviere] for London bookseller Charles J. Sawyer (stamp-signed "Chas. J. Sawyer, Ltd., London" on front turn-in), upper cover with inlaid mahogany-brown morocco lyre at head, "strung" with gilt fillets and surrounded by dense gilt stippling, six gilt fillets emanating from the top of this ornament and curling extravagantly below it, with inlaid green morocco leaves at the tips of its extensions, and inlaid red dots accenting the perimeter, raised bands, spine compartments with gilt and inlaid leaf sprig, gilt titling, turn-ins framed with five gilt fillets, stippled and inlaid cornerpieces, ivory moiré silk doublures and endleaves. In a fine full morocco plush-lined box with raised bands and gilt titling. ILLUSTRATED THROUGHOUT, WITH EIGHT LARGE MINIATURES within extraordinarily elaborate illuminated… Read More

1748. (Sankt Petersburg, 1748). 8vo. Bound with five other tragedies/dramas in a slightly later (late 18th century) full calf binding with gilt line-borders to boards and richly gilt spine with red and blue title- and tome-labels. Spine with some wear and corners bumped. Upper capital worn. Internally generally nice and clean and on good paper, but "Hamlet" - which has clearly been well red and presumably used for a stage set-up - has some light pencil-annotations and pencil-crossovers, occasional brownspotting, a few paper restorations - no loss of text, a tear to one leaf - no loss, and one leaf slighly loosening at the bottom. Hamlet: 68, (2) pp. - separately paginated. 26pp. + 79, (1) pp. + 62 pp. + 68, (2) pp. + 78 pp. + 1 f. blank + 29 pp. Extremely rare first edition of the first Russian translation/adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The first edition is incredibly scarce and deemed virtually unobtainable. A second appearance, which is also of the utmost scarcity, came out in 1786, in a… Read More

London: Jacob Tonson & Edmund Curl, 1709. Hardcover. Very Good+/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. THE WORKS OF MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR IN SIX VOLUMES: ADORN'D WITH CUTS was published in 1709 by Jacob Tonson & edited by Nicholas Rowe. They are the 1st edition of Shakespeare's plays published after the four folios. These are the first illustrated edition of Shakespeare's plays, 1st edition to indicate acts, scenes & dramatis personae, 1st to provide stage directions, 1st to include a formal biography of Shakespeare. Also includes THE WORKS OF MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR. VOLUME THE SEVENTH. CONTAINING VENUS & ADONIS, TARQUIN & LUCRECE AND HIS MISCELLANY POEMS published in 1710 by Edmund Curll. "The significance of the 'volume the seventh' as has been generally understood, is in the fact that the book was intended as a supplementary volume to be sold to purchasers of the set of Rowe's Works of Shakespeare" (Alden, 1916). This octavo set is bound in full calf, with gilt & blind tooled covers, gilt tooled… Read More

Edinburgh: T. and A. Constable; Grant Richards, 1903-1904. The Constable edition of the works of Shakespeare. Folio, ten volumes. Elaborately bound in full blue morocco by Bayntun Riviere in Cosway-style binding with hand painted portrait medallions under glass to the front panel of each volume, gilt titles to the spine, gilt tooling to the spine and front panel, fleuron cornerpiece designs within gilt frames, raised gilt bands, inner dentelles, top edge gilt, silk endleaves, ribbon bound in. Illustrated with 479 tissue-guarded plates and 531 original illustrations, 525 of which are original watercolors. One of only 1,000 copies, this is number 149. Volume X is signed by Grant Richards, who produced that volume only, on the limitation page. Each volume contains four plays, with the exception of volume ten which contains two plays followed by Shakespeare's narrative poems and sonnets. In near fine condition. Exceptionally rare and desirable. A stunning set.

Weimar: Printed at the Cranach Press by Henry Kessler., 1928-9. Translated into German by Gerhard Hauptmann, with translations of the original Hamlet stories by Saxo Grammaticus and Francoise de Belleforest. 74 wood engravings by Edward Gordon Craig, and wood engraved lettering by Eric Gill, typeface designed by Edward Johnston after that used by Fust & Schoeffer in their Mainz Psalter of 1457. The hemp and linen fibre paper was made by Maillol. No.29 of only 230 copies of the German edition on handmade paper of a total edition of 255. Folio, an outstandingly fresh copy bound in a remarkable contemporary spcial bindings, unsigned, but most probably by Dorfner. Full dark red morocco, with an exact copy of the Gordon Craig woodcut on p.121 on the upper cover in blue morocco onlay ruled in gilt, both covers and edges with gilt ruleds, spine in compartments with raised bands, each compartment ruled in gilt, three lettered in gilt, blue silk endleaves. In the original slightly worn speckled stiff boards… Read More

Dublin: Printed by and for Geo. Grierson ... and for George Ewing .., 1726. First Irish edition of Shakespeare. Wood-engraved head- and tailpieces and initials. Lacking subscriber's list called for in ESTC. 8 vols. 8vo. Contemporary sprinkled calf. Expertly rebacked to style, red morocco spine labels, text exceptionally clean and crisp. First Irish edition of Shakespeare. Wood-engraved head- and tailpieces and initials. Lacking subscriber's list called for in ESTC. 8 vols. 8vo. 'The first edition of Shakespeare's works published in Ireland' (Jaggard). A rare complete set of the first edition of Shakespeare's works printed in Ireland. Published in 8 volumes by George Grierson and George Ewing, this piracy reprints Pope's 6-volume 4to edition of 1725, including Rowe's Life and the Index of the Characters, Sentiments, Speeches and Descriptions. It also includes the text of Sewell's supplementary volume 7 - volume 8 in this edition. Jaggard notes that the edition "appears to have met with poor… Read More

London: John Harrison, George Bishop, Rafe Newberie, Henrie Denham, and Thomas Woodcocke, 1587. Second Edition. 18th-century calf rebacked. Very Good. THE SECOND EDITION (1587) OF HOLINSHED'S "CHRONICLES": THE BOOK AND THE EDITION USED BY SHAKESPEARE AS A SOURCE FOR A DOZEN OF HIS PLAYS. "In 1548, the prominent London printer and bookseller Reyner (or Reginald) Wolfe ambitiously decided to produce a universal history and cosmography... of the world. After Wolfe's death in 1573, his assistant Raphael Holinshed took over the project, hired more writers and restrained its scope to the British Isles. The Chronicles was first published in 1577 in a two-volume folio edition, illustrated with numerous woodcuts. After Holinshed's death in 1580, Abraham Fleming published the significantly expanded revised second edition of 1587 in a larger folio format, this time without illustrations" (British Library). By scholarly consensus, it is the second (1587) edition, offered here, that Shakespeare used as the… Read More