SHAKESPEARE   

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Shakespeare for the Parlor Shelf *&* the Sharp-Eyed Reader

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•  Pretty and portable, this is an elegantly, impressivelysmall-printed edition of Shakespeare's 34 plays, set in Diamond type in two columns by Corrall for William Pickering. Unillustrated but for the handsome frontispiece portrait of Shakespeare by H. Robinson dated 1832 (with Shakespeare's facsimile signature underneath) and one cute circular vignette, it rather wondrously represents the day when fonts were not scalable with the touch of a button but when such dense yet clear text as this was laid in the composing sticktiny lead letter by tiny, individual lead letter, and line by line.

A glossary at the end here defines select vocabulary.

Binding: Full moss green pebbled morocco, spine with raised bands and gilt extra; covers bordered with gilt double fillets and an interesting rod, vine, and flower frame gilt within that; gilt board edges and turn-ins. All edges gilt.

Provenance:  Robert George Arbuthnot (?) to Francis Edward Dumford, December 1857 (ink inscription, front fly-leaf verso).

•  Lowndes 2266; Keynes, Pickering, p. 88; Colbeck, A Bookman's Catalogue: The Norman Colbeck Collection (University of British Columbia Press, 1987), Vol. II, p. 976, no. 15.   Bound as above, rubbed at extremities; spine darkened to deeper green. Mild offsetting to yellow endpapers from turn-ins, very light foxing on some leaves mostly at the rear. Bookmark cut from an old envelope (“Official Business”) postmarked Washington, D.C., May 3, 1917. A sound, clean, lovely example of a beautiful little production.  (30119)

The Very Best Theatrical Excerpts, Selected with
“Rectitude & Morality” in Mind

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•  “Comprising a great number of readings, recitations, dialogues and harangues, from the most celebrated tragedies, poems and speeches,” with directions for putting on amateur productions and aplate illustrating a stage set with scenery.

Binding:  Publisher's quarter red textured cloth over gold paper–covered sides, front cover with George Wevill's (signed) chromolithographic illustration in red, green, black, brown, and blue of a “perfect” orator wearing a toga — and also, wearingmagnificent Victorian whiskers!

•  Binding as above, moderately worn overall with small spots of discoloration. Title-page with inked ownership inscription dated 1872. Pages slightly age-toned; three leaves with faint lines of waterstaining in outer margins. With endpapers, 10 pages of ads present — and interesting.  (28444)

A SERIES OF 18TH-CENTURY PRINTINGS
OF
INDIVIDUAL
SHAKESPEARE PLAYS

All the World’s a Stage

• A few years before the printing of this edition, Baker noted in his Companion to the Play-House that this might be “the truest Pastoral Drama, that ever was written; nor is it ever seen without Pleasure to all present.” The piece was probably originally issued with Cibber’s Damon and Phillida.

• ESTC T22526. Removed from a nonce volume, now in a Mylar folder. Lacking the plate. Pages shaved, in some cases lacking final lines.

The Merchant of Venice — The “Theatres-Royal” Version!

•  Printed in double columns, with a few typographical ornaments, this appeared towards the end of a long run of successful Shakespearean productions at Drury Lane, in the year after Garrick had retired as manager of the theater.

•  ESTC T39238.   Removed from a nonce volume. Lacking the plate. Pages clean, with the last leaf separated but present.  (10160)

Midsummer Night's Dream *&*
the Shepherd's Wedding!

•  ESTC (electronic, accessed April 2000) T39351.   Modern wrappers; with sewing holes and short tears to inner margin of title-page. Faint waterstains in lower outer corners, impinging a little upon printed portions; a bit of spotting to title-page. Tear to upper right portion of back leaf with loss to part of several lines of Lloyd's text (suppliable). Without the plate in the Shakespeare.  (3628)

All's Well, 1778

All's well, that ends well

•  ESTC (electronic, accessed April 2000) T21272. Modern wrappers; sewing loosening in first signature. Without the plate. Back leaf chipped at fore-edge and with one tiny hole near bottom edge. Light soiling to title-page; some age-toning to margins.

A Pleasing Pair

•  The Handel is libretto — no music was given.

•  ESTC (electronic, accessed April 2000) T30922. Modern wrappers, with sewing holes. Without the plate. Lower outer corners lightly stained, and tiny chips and dog-ears to corners of front and back leaves.

Sold by Rachel Randall

•  ESTC (electronic, accessed April 2000) T63031. Modern wrappers, with sewing holes. Without the plate. Some scattered light spotting.

Garrick’s Version   

•  Garrick’s adaptation, printed towards the end of a long run of successful Shakespearean productions at Drury Lane. The dramatis personæ does not, alas, list the actors.

•  ESTC T34530. Removed from a nonce volume, now in a Mylar folder. Lacking the plate. Edges shaved, in some cases with loss of letters or final lines. First few leaves with waterstaining along lower inner margins and light foxing.

[Henry IV. Part 1.] The first part of King Henry IV. A tragedy. ...Taken from the managers' book, at the Theatre Royal, Covent-Garden. London: Pr. for R. Butters, [ca. 1790–95?]. 12mo. 28 pp., then pp. 17–42, [1 (errata)] f.; (lacks the plate).
$90.00

•  ESTC (electronic, accessed April 2000) T63036. Modern wrappers, sewing loosening. A few pages lightly creased across top corners; lower outer corner of p. 35 and lower inner corner dog-eared; some spots of foxing to title-page and pp. 3 16. Without the plate.

King John & Mohamet

•  ESTC (electronic, accessed April 2000) T63034. Modern wrappers; sewing loosening with holes visible only from back page. Abrasions to title-page with loss of three letters (the "ohn" in "John") to the title. Title-page with some pencilling, soiling, and chipping to lower right corner and fore-edge. Faint library stamps of the Mercantile Library. A few spots of discoloration to text. Some soiling to title-page of Voltair's play.

[Twelfth Night] Twelfth night: Or, what you will. As it is acted at the Theatres-Royal in Drury-Lane and Covent-Garden.... London: Pr. for J. Rivington..., [1775?]. 12mo. 71, [1] pp.
$100.00

•  ESTC (electronic, accessed April 2000) T175355. Modern wrappers. Soiling to paper tops, title-page, pp. 30 31, and back page; circular stains from p. 55 to end, and stains at upper corners from title-page to about p. 42. First few leaves chipped, and with short tears at edges and bottom outer corners; fore-edges of first two leaves embrittled. Minor repairs to title-page; abrasions near bottom corner contributing to loss of a bit of printing. Faint pencilling and rubber-stamp on title-page; some pencilling to upper outer corner of second page.

Why Believers Believed . . .

•  First edition of this response to Malone’s Inquiry into the Authenticity of Certain Miscellaneous Papers, an analysis of William Henry Ireland’s now-infamous Shakespearean forgeries. Chalmers, though reluctantly conceding the inauthenticity of the documents, here explains in detail why so many were taken in by the scam — providing much material of interest for both Shakespeare scholars and historians of literary frauds. The volume is illustrated with a facsimile of five Shakespeare signatures, engraved by I. Girtin. Single-click the image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  ESTC T138271; Lowndes, II, 404; Allibone, 2036. Recent quarter morocco over marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. Title-page and a few others stamped by a now-defunct institution; pages slightly age-toned, one with pencilled underlining/emphasis.

Why They Believed — A Supplement

•  First edition of another entry in the debate over William Henry Ireland’s now-infamous Shakespearean forgeries: Chalmers’s final response to the numerous items published during the controversy, in which he reminds readers that he is in agreement regarding the inauthenticity of Ireland’s documents, but disagreement with the scholarship (and pugnacity) of Malone and others. Single-click the image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  ESTCT61515; Allibone, 2036; Lowndes, II, 404. Recent quarter morocco over marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. Title-page and a few others stamped by a now-defunct institution; pages age-toned.

Pedantic or Enlightening (or Both)? YOU Decide

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•  First edition: A British antiquary's commentary on some of the obscurer points of Shakespeare's plays, examining possible source materials and often focusing on the anachronisms present in the plots and settings. Present here are brief analyses of the legalities of different types of marriage contracts, the nature of period music (offering as examples tunes for the “Scotish brawl” and “Canary”), and the fine details of such activities as quail fighting, crow keeping, wassail drinking, wearing chopines, furnishing funeral tables, etc., as well as longer researches on the subjects described in the title.

This treatise was generally well-received at the time of its publication, and a later 19th-century critic praised Douce for his “delicate and sympathetic apprehension of the peculiar beauties of Shakespeare,” but Jeffrey rather famously severely critiqued the work in the Edinburgh Review), and Stapfer described it as “bristling with erudition but devoid of talent, and very foolish and irreverent towards Shakespeare.”

Evidence of Readership: An early owner of this copy who seems to have sided with Jeffrey has made occasional annotations in pencil, one of which decries “these commentators [who] will never allow poor Shakespeare any invention, always endeavoring to prove him pilfering . . . “

Both volumes are illustrated with wood engravings by J. Berryman, reproducing medieval and Renaissance images; vol. II also includes a total ofnine plates, one being an oversized, folding rendition of a fanciful 15th-century engraving of a Flemish morris dance. The title-pages are printed in red and black.

Provenance:  Front fly-leaf of vol. II with pencilled ownership inscription of prominent 20th-century Philadelphia collector E.M. Boyle.

•  NSTC D1619; NCBEL, III, 1644.   Period-style quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped red morocco title-label, compartments with blind-tooled and gilt-stamped decorations, back pastedowns with binder's tickets. All edges marbled. Regular but not heavy early pencilled annotations, some offset onto opposing pages; a few scattered small smudges, pages otherwise clean. One leaf with small central hole affecting about four letters. A very attractive copy, with interesting and engaging signs of readership.  (30112)

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