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PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
SHAKESPEARE, William (1564-1616). Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. Published according to the true Originall Copies. The second Impression. Edited by John Heminge (d. 1630) and Henry Condell (d. 1627). London: Printed by Tho Cotes, for Robert Allot, and are to be sold at the signe of the Black Beare in Pauls Church-yard, 1632.
Details
SHAKESPEARE, William (1564-1616). Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. Published according to the true Originall Copies. The second Impression. Edited by John Heminge (d. 1630) and Henry Condell (d. 1627). London: Printed by Tho Cotes, for Robert Allot, and are to be sold at the signe of the Black Beare in Pauls Church-yard, 1632.
Second edition, first issue, of the second collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, set page-for-page from a corrected copy of the First Folio, 1623. The chief addendum to the work is Milton's (anonymous) verses, "An Epitaph on the admirable Dramaticke Poet, W. Shakespeare," the first of his English-language poems to be printed. As shown by William Todd, only the true first issue was published in 1632. Variant settings of the title-page imprint give the names of each of the five shareholders in the edition: Robert Allot (as here, who had the largest share), William Aspley, Richard Meighen, John Smethwick, and Richard Hawkins. The imprint of this copy is Todd's state Ia; the page with Milton's verse (i.e., the inner forme of the same sheet) is his state Ib, corrected to read “Comicke” “Laugh” and “passions” with ligatured double-s. In 1641 and later, remainder sheets were sold with this sheet (A2.5) in two distinct re-settings. A tall and very fresh copy.
Median folio (327 x 219 mm). Engraved portrait of Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout (third state) on the title-page, woodcut initials and head- and tail-pieces, text printed in two columns within rules. (The first leaf with Jonson's "To the Reader" inlaid, title-page lightly soiled and with marginal repair, Aa6 with marginal repair touching 2 letters and costing a bit of rule, marginal repairs to last several leaves, very occasional tiny rustholes or light soiling). Crushed red morocco gilt, marbled endpapers, edges gilt over earlier red, by Hayday (spine faded, extremities a bit rubbed, a few scuffmarks). Half red morocco folding-case. Provenance: Richard Manney (bookplate; his sale, Sotheby's New York, 11 October 1991, lot 279). Gregg III:1113; Pforzheimer 906; STC 22274a; Todd, "The Issues and States of the Second Folio and Milton's Epitaph," in Studies in Bibliography V (1952-53), pp. 81-108.
Second edition, first issue, of the second collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, set page-for-page from a corrected copy of the First Folio, 1623. The chief addendum to the work is Milton's (anonymous) verses, "An Epitaph on the admirable Dramaticke Poet, W. Shakespeare," the first of his English-language poems to be printed. As shown by William Todd, only the true first issue was published in 1632. Variant settings of the title-page imprint give the names of each of the five shareholders in the edition: Robert Allot (as here, who had the largest share), William Aspley, Richard Meighen, John Smethwick, and Richard Hawkins. The imprint of this copy is Todd's state Ia; the page with Milton's verse (i.e., the inner forme of the same sheet) is his state Ib, corrected to read “Comicke” “Laugh” and “passions” with ligatured double-s. In 1641 and later, remainder sheets were sold with this sheet (A2.5) in two distinct re-settings. A tall and very fresh copy.
Median folio (327 x 219 mm). Engraved portrait of Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout (third state) on the title-page, woodcut initials and head- and tail-pieces, text printed in two columns within rules. (The first leaf with Jonson's "To the Reader" inlaid, title-page lightly soiled and with marginal repair, Aa6 with marginal repair touching 2 letters and costing a bit of rule, marginal repairs to last several leaves, very occasional tiny rustholes or light soiling). Crushed red morocco gilt, marbled endpapers, edges gilt over earlier red, by Hayday (spine faded, extremities a bit rubbed, a few scuffmarks). Half red morocco folding-case. Provenance: Richard Manney (bookplate; his sale, Sotheby's New York, 11 October 1991, lot 279). Gregg III:1113; Pforzheimer 906; STC 22274a; Todd, "The Issues and States of the Second Folio and Milton's Epitaph," in Studies in Bibliography V (1952-53), pp. 81-108.