Search Results: Books by shakespeare

London: Printed for P.C. 1664 (first-issue title: Philip Chetwinde,, 1663). The rare Third Folio, many copies of which were destroyed in the Great Fire of London, this copy with both states of the title page and the additional plays, including Pericles Median folio (329 x 212 mm). Early 19th-century blind-tooled russia, edges gilt (sympathetically rebacked), dark green endpapers, gilt edges. Housed in a dark brown quarter morocco solander box by the Chelsea Bindery. First-issue title in the state without the portrait bound at front, 514 leaves: complete. Roman and italic text types, cursive for headings, various larger romans and cursives in the preliminaries. Double column, 66 lines, headlines and catchwords, pages box-ruled, woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials, Shakespeare's portrait in third state. Sig. Z6 supplied from a shorter copy, B1 with long tear skilfully mended with loss of one letter, six small rust-holes and 11 small paper flaws affecting approximately 20 letters, a few short… Read more

London: Tho Cotes, for Robert Allot, 1632. Folio, pp (xx) 303 (i) 232, 419 (i). Text in double column, prefatory matter single, Roman and Italic letter. Ionic head & shoulders engraved portrait of Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout on t-p in unusually fine impression (the author’s best known representation), woodcut initials and headpieces. Address “To the Reader"" by Ben Jonson) inlaid on blank. Lower outer corner of first 3 ll. slightly soiled. Wine (?) stain to blank outer corner of next three, reappearing very occasionally in text, a few marginal tears and spots, light age yellowing, last leaf dusty. A very good, clean, well margined copy (taller than Pforzheimer's and the same width) in handsome late C17 calf, spine with gilt compartments, morocco label, arms of the 2nd Duke of Newcastle gilt stamped in central panel on covers, joints repaired, directions to binder on rear pastedown. (C17?) Autograph of Thomas Wright in red chalk on fore margin of t1, autograph of Edward Filmer (1717) at head… Read more

SHAKESPEARE (William):
POEMS: Written by Wil. Shake-speare. Gent.
London: Printed by Tho. Cotes, and are to be sold by John Benson, dwelling in St. Dunstans Church-yard, 1640.
8vo, engraved Portrait Frontispiece by William Marshall after Droeshout, with verses below. Two letterpress title pages, both with woodcut printer's device, the second undated, title-page extended and remargined at bottom, tiny abrasion at top of frontispiece, catchword *3 carelessly printed and punched through, final leaf (M4) extended; russet morocco by Bedford, covers gilt paneled, marbled endpapers, spine and edges gilt.

FIRST COLLECTED EDITION. This edition by Benson brings together all but eight of the sonnets: A Lover s Complaint , The Passionate Pilgrim (mostly not by Shakespeare), The Phoenix and the Turtle (attributed to Shakespeare), and elegies and other poems honoring Shakespeare by Jonson, Milton, Digges, Herrick, Strode, Carew, and others. Benson famously reorganized the sonnets, probably out of concern… 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 Folio (369 x 234 mm). Late 18th-century diced russia, spine divided in six compartments by double raised bands, gilt-lettered direct in second, third and fourth compartments, first, fifth and sixth with central ornament in blind; sides with wide borders of a thick-and-thin rule in gilt enclosing a blind roll of leaves and acorns and a gilt wavy roll incorporating leaf sprays, gilt acorn roll to turn-ins and leather inner hinge, drab endpapers, gilt edges; the binding unsigned but quality work. Housed in a brown quarter morocco fleeced-line folding case by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Engraved portrait by Martin Droeshout above the verses To the Reader on verso of the first leaf, title with fleur-de-lis device (McKerrow 263), double column text within typographical rules, woodcut initials. Engraved bookplate of T. Allen, FSA. Small wormhole(s) in lower inner margin, from beginning through to… 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 by Tho. Cotes, for Robert Allot, and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the Blacke Beare in Pauls Church-yard, 1632. Second Folio edition of what is generally considered to be the most important work of literature in the English language. Engraved portrait by Martin Droeshout on title page, woodcut ornaments and initials. Folio (335x220 mm), very fine full crimson morocco by Lloyd, the covers beautifully decorated with three gilt fillet lines at the border surrounded by a key rolled border gilt, and with central gilt heraldic device, the spine in compartments fully tooled and elaborately and very handsomely decorated in gilt with superb tooling at the borders of the compartments and with central gilt devices exquisitely decorated in gilt, separated by raised bands gilt stopped and tooled, two compartments lettered in gilt. The turnovers and edges are fully gilt with fillet lines at the edges and elaborate gilt rolled decorative borders at the turnovers. Edges of the… Read more

4th folio, 1st issue. Shakespeare's complete plays, the preeminent work in all of English literature. 19th century full morocco, all edges gilt, the binding fine and unrepaired, an expressly appropriate antique, but Shakespeare folio quality should be dissected where it's valued, and that's on the inside, and this one is exceptional. There are short tears to some blank margins, 2 small rust holes, and old stains to the frontispiece, title page, and here and there in the text, but the book's complete and perfect, the paper's rather white and supple, and most important, every single letter of type, every rule, and every line of engraving is absolutely genuine with nothing in facsimile, and not a single leaf is extended or remargined, and other Shakespeare folios cannot honestly make this claim. A 332 year old beauty, stalwart, unrepaired, tall and wide (14 3/8" X 8 7/8"), an exemplary and glorious copy of what continues to stand tall as the book of books. Coll: O2, A4, A- Y6, Z4, BB-ZZ6, *AAA-DDD6,… 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 complete plays, the paramount work in all of English literature. Fine 19th century full blind-tooled morocco, gilt titled, gilt edges, satisfying condition by any standard, with no repair, a nicely executed, beautiful and distinctive antique, but here's your scrupulously dissected examination: Portrait, title page and 25 other leaves lightly stained, minor chips and short tears to some blank margins (and only the blank margins), a dozen tiny pin holes (mostly rust), Ccc6 with the margin slightly miscut by 1/16" at 2 corners, a paper flaw just under the upper rule of Ii2, but don't be distracted. This is (withal) a complete and perfect folio, tall (14 1/16"), wide (8 15/16"), and read the next sentence with attention,… Read more

London: Thomas Cotes, for John Waterson, 1634. FIRST EDITION, 4to. pp. (ii), 88, (ii). pi1(=N2), B-M4, N1. Roman letter, some Italic. Woodcut printer’s device on title, typographical headpiece and opening initial, Selbourne library stamp just touching text on verso of title and H2 recto, note on front endpaper “Halliwell’s Sale. May 1856. Lot 331. William Tite,” with note in another hand “This binding cost me £1.18.0.” Light age yellowing, title fractionally dusty, small rust hole to G4 touching two letters, signature letter of B3 just shaved in lower margin, very small repairs to gutter of title, small hole repaired in blank margin of M2, blank outer corner repaired on last two leaves. A very good, crisp copy in fine C19th red morocco by Bedford, covers bordered with double gilt rule, spine with gilt ruled raised bands, fleurons gilt to centres, edges gilt ruled, inner dentelles richly gilt, all edges red, extremities fractionally rubbed. Exceptionally rare and important first edition,… 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. 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 that copies of each… Read more

London: Andr. Clark, for J. Martyn, and H. Herringman, 1676. Sixth edition. Morocco. Very Good. THE SCARCE 1676 "PLAYERS' QUARTO" AND FIRST DAVENANT EDITION. THE A. EDWARD NEWTON COPY. FIRST PRINTING, WITH FOUR-LINE IMPRINT. The 1676 "Players' Quarto" is the sixth overall quarto printing of Hamlet (Q6) and the first printing since the Restoration. It is the first edition to list the players (including two women, who in the Restoration were allowed to appear on the stage for the first time) and the first edition to divide the play into acts. Also, known as the first Davenant edition, the text was edited and prepared by William Davenant, "the man mainly responsible for the return of Shakespeare's plays to the London stage at the Restoration" (DNB). Q6 is particularly significant for our understanding of how Shakespeare was received during the Restoration, for the whole text is included, but with indications of which lines were omitted during performances. "As has been pointed out, 'Davenant's… Read more

London: H. Herringman, E. Brewster, and R. Bentley, 1685. FOURTH FOLIO. 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.

(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… Read more

London: by H[enry]. H[ills]. Jun for Hen. Heringman and R. Bentley, and sold by Joseph Knight and Francis Saunders,, 1684. First separate edition, with the original text Quarto (222 x 175 mm). Eighteenth-century marbled wrappers, titled in early manuscript at head of front wrapper. Housed in a custom polished calf folding case and cloth chemise. Wrappers a bit worn and faded, paper spine defective, lower two cords (of four) gone; small work track to gutter of a few leaves, occasionally intruding into text, lower right corner of title torn away, but a nicely margined copy. First quarto and first separate edition, the text being taken unaltered from the 1623 First Folio. This is the true first of six quartos of Julius Caesar separately printed in the late 17th century. Only two, from 1684 and 1691, contain a date, and all seem to have been published to take advantage of the play's popularity after Thomas Betterton revived it at Drury Lane in 1682 (Bartlett, 123, 131). Bartlett 112; Wing S2922;… Read more

Stratford-on-Avon: Shakespeare Head Press, 1906. Ten quarto volumes. This is one of only twelve sets printed on pure vellum with a frontispiece illustration in each volume. It represents a monumental undertaking, which took four years to complete and consumed about 250 sheets for each of the twelve copies printed on vellum. The Shakespeare Head Press was founded by A. H. Bullen, who had the idea of printing the complete works of Shakespeare at Stratford-on-Avon as the result of a dream in which he was presented with a set of Shakespeare's works while visiting the town. This is the first edition of Shakespeare to have been published in Stratford and the first major publication of the Press. Although other Shakespeare Head Press sets printed on vellum regularly appear on the market, this Shakespeare set is very difficult to obtain. Volumes I and II are lacking the silk fore-edge ties, spine lettering a trifle rubbed on volume VI, few volumes with minor wrinkling to spine ends, else a fine copy in… 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. English poet, playwright, and actor, William… Read more

London: for Bernard Lintott,, [1710-11]. The Sonnets and longer poems 2 volumes bound together, octavo (167 x 90 mm). Contemporary sheep, unlettered, sides with two-line gilt rules. Housed in a brown morocco-backed solander box. Without free endpapers. Bookplate of Robert Ball. Corners repaired, joints starting at head but holding, occasional spotting as usual, still a very good copy. Effectively the earliest obtainable printing of Shakespeare's major poetry, combining the complete uncorrupted text of the 1609 Sonnets with Lucrece and Venus and Adonis. Benson's 1640 edition of Shakespeare's Poems lacked both Lucrece and Venus and Adonis and its text of the Sonnets was both incomplete and bowdlerised - combining poems, mixing masculine and feminine pronouns etc. - but Lintott referred back to the original 1609 edition of the Sonnets, correcting Benson's mistakes and including the two longer poems for the first time. Volume 1 was originally published separately with a title-page dated 1709; when… Read more

London - Jacob Tonson, 1709 Book. Very Good. Hardcover. First edition.. Six volumes of Tonson's dramatic works ofShakespeare. Volumes I-V are in uniform bindings as a set, with the pages trimmed down. Volume VI is bound in a different half calf binding with larger page sizes due to their not being trimmed as closely as volumes I-V. The sixth volume could be trimmed and bound to match. This is the first edition of this work, edited by Nicholas Rowe. It is the first edition of Shakespeare's works to be published in the eighteenth century and has been referred to as the first 'modern' edition of the plays. As stated to the title page of volume I this set was originally published as six volumes as seen here. A seventh volume was published by a different publisher, E Curll, a year later in 1710 whichaddedhis poetry and critical remarks on his plays by C Gildon and is sometimes seen bound together with this set. This set contains all six volumes of Shakespeare's dramatic works edited… Read more

The Second Collected Edition, but First Complete Edition of Shakespeare's Poems SHAKESPEARE, William. A Collection of Poems, In Two Volumes; Being all the Miscellanies of Mr. William Shakespeare,. which were Publish'd by himself in the Year 1609 and now correctly Printed from those Editions. The First Volume contains, I. Venus and Adonis. II. The Rape of Lucrece. III. The Passionate Pilgrim. IV. Some Sonnets set to sundry Notes of Musick. The Second Volume contains One Hundred and Fifty Four Sonnets, all of them in Praise of his Mistress. II. A Lover's Complaint of his Angry Mistress. London: for Bernard Lintott, [1709-10]. This is the second collected edition (the first being 1640), but first complete edition of Shakespeare's poems, second issue of volume I, with the dates of 1609 on the part-titles and first issue of volume II. Two octavo volumes in one (6 5/16 x 3 3/4 inches; 160 x 94 mm). [iv], [1]-155, [1, blank]; [4], 98 pp. With volume titles and part-titles. With engraved frontispiece… Read more