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BEAUMONT, Francis (1584-1616) and John FLETCHER (1579-1625). Comedies and Tragedies Written by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher Gentlemen. Never printed before, And now published by the Authours Originall Copies. London: for Humphrey Robinson and Humphrey Moseley, 1647.
2o (313 x 207 mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait of Fletcher by W. Marshall, ornamental head- and tail-pieces. Double-column text. (Frontispiece and title skilfully restored with lower corner of frontispiece and rule-border on fore-margin of title supplied in facsimile, occasional pale spotting and staining, a few short tears repaired occasionally touching letters.) Modern reddish-brown crushed levant morocco gilt, edges gilt, by Riviere (front joint skilfully retouched). Provenance: 18th-century manuscript Dramatis Personae for "The Womans Prize, or the tamer tamed" on 5Q2v -- Jerome Kern (bookplate) sold Anderson Galleries, New York, 7 January 1929, lot 42 -- purchased from Ximenes, New York, 3 February 1967.
First collected edition, first state of the frontispiece, with "vates duplex" in lowercase and J. Berkenhead in larger letters. This edition, supposed to have been edited by James Shirley, contains all of Beaumont and Fletcher's previously published plays except Wild-Goose Chase. "Nothing which throws light upon the history of printing at this time is more interesting than the Postscript added at the end of the commedatory verses by Waller, Loveleace, Herrick, Ben Jonson and others" (Grolier English). The passage describes the necessity of using numerous printers (8 are believed to have been employed) to expedite issuance of the book. Greg III, p.1013; Grolier English 28; Pforzheimer 53; Wing B-1581.
2o (313 x 207 mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait of Fletcher by W. Marshall, ornamental head- and tail-pieces. Double-column text. (Frontispiece and title skilfully restored with lower corner of frontispiece and rule-border on fore-margin of title supplied in facsimile, occasional pale spotting and staining, a few short tears repaired occasionally touching letters.) Modern reddish-brown crushed levant morocco gilt, edges gilt, by Riviere (front joint skilfully retouched). Provenance: 18th-century manuscript Dramatis Personae for "The Womans Prize, or the tamer tamed" on 5Q2v -- Jerome Kern (bookplate) sold Anderson Galleries, New York, 7 January 1929, lot 42 -- purchased from Ximenes, New York, 3 February 1967.
First collected edition, first state of the frontispiece, with "vates duplex" in lowercase and J. Berkenhead in larger letters. This edition, supposed to have been edited by James Shirley, contains all of Beaumont and Fletcher's previously published plays except Wild-Goose Chase. "Nothing which throws light upon the history of printing at this time is more interesting than the Postscript added at the end of the commedatory verses by Waller, Loveleace, Herrick, Ben Jonson and others" (Grolier English). The passage describes the necessity of using numerous printers (8 are believed to have been employed) to expedite issuance of the book. Greg III, p.1013; Grolier English 28; Pforzheimer 53; Wing B-1581.