Shakespeare, William.

Folio (314 x 210mm), 442 out of 454 leaves,  the second collected edition of shakespeare's plays, letterpress title with engraved portrait by Droeshout, woodcut head-pieces and initials, text in double column, 66 lines, roman and italic type, headlines and catchwords, twentieth-century brown morocco, spine in six compartments decorated in gilt, covers with double fillet borders, gilt dentelles, new marbled endpapers, lacking leaves 2h1--2i6 (11 leaves of Romeo and Juliet and one leaf of Timon of Athens), these missing leaves replaced with blank leaves by the binder, some slight spotting and wear to "To the Reader" leaf and title leaf, square portion of outer margin of ^{[PI]A5 repaired (not affecting text), lower third of  *1 repaired  (affecting "The Names of the Principall Actors"), the Preliminary leaves re-inserted partially in the incorrect order by the binder, short tear to A5, minor flaw to F6 verso, some occasional slight staining and tiny burn-holes, inner margins of final gathering 3d4 repaired, final leaf 3d4 laid down, borders on some leaves cut close, minor wear to edges of binding}



collation (of a complete copy):  ^{[PI]A6  *4  , A-2B6 2C2 , a-y6, 2a-3c6 3d4}

Henry Tupper Esq; Elizabeth College, Guernsey (presentation inscription on front endpaper recording gift from Tupper to the library of the college on 8 September 1871, red library stamps on blank verso of  "To the Reader" leaf and on k1 recto and on 2v1 verso)

 

, presentation inscription on front endpaper to the Library of  Elizabeth College, Guernsey

STC 22274; Greg III, pp.1113-1116; Bartlett 120; Todd Studies in Bibliography, Vol.V, 1952, pp.81-108

This copy lacks leaves 2h1--2i6 (11 leaves of Romeo and Juliet and one leaf of Timon of Athens)-- these missing leaves replaced with blank leaves by the binder; some slight spotting and wear to "To the Reader" leaf and title leaf, square portion of outer margin of [PI]A5 repaired (not affecting text), lower third of *1 repaired (affecting "The Names of the Principall Actors"), the Preliminary leaves re-inserted partially in the incorrect order by the binder, short tear to A5, minor flaw to F6 verso, some occasional slight staining and tiny burn-holes, inner margins of final gathering 3d4 repaired, final leaf 3d4 laid down, borders on some leaves cut close, minor wear to edges of binding. In this copy the conjugate of the title leaf [PI]A5 has the original setting on the recto which contains "Upon the effigies of my worthy friend...William Shakespeare" (by an unknown author) and a 17-line poem by John Milton beneath ("An Epitaph on the admirable Dramaticke poet, W. Shakespeare"). Line 13, for instance has "VV" instead of "W", line 17 "Vnder" instead of "Under" and the same line "-ypointing" instead of "-ypointed".
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the second folio edition of shakespeare's plays, the most important collection of texts in english literature, and containing the first appearance in print of John Milton (an epitaph in 16 verses printed on A5r).

The second folio, which in principle was a page-for-page reprint of the First Folio of 1623 (see lot 95), was printed in 1632 by Thomas Cotes, who had taken over the Jaggard shop following Isaac's death in 1627. Like the First Folio it was printed for a syndicate of publishers, which again included John Smethwick and William Aspley. Although many obvious corrections were made the printing introduced hundreds of minor changes to the text, including many errors.

In this copy the conjugate of the title leaf ^[PI]A5 has the original setting on the recto which contains "Upon the effigies of my worthy friend...William Shakespeare" (by an unknown author) and a 17-line poem by John Milton beneath ("An Epitaph on the admirable Dramaticke poet, W. Shakespeare").  Line 13, for instance has "VV" instead of "W", line 17 "Vnder" instead of "Under" and the same line "-ypointing" instead of "-ypointed".