Shakespeare, William

Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. Published according to the true Original Copies. Unto which is added, Seven Plays, Never before Printed in Folio ... The Fourth Edition. London: Printed for H. Herringman, E. Brewster, and R. Bentley, 1685



Folio (14 3/8 x 8 7/8 in.; 365 x 225 mm). collation: ()^{2, A4, A-Y6, Z4, BB-ZZ6, *AAA-DDD6, EEE8, AAA-ZZZ6, AAAA-BBBB6, CCCC2=458 leaves, frontispiece portrait with verses below, title with printer's device (Greg *), woodcut initials, text in 2 columns, roman and italic type, two pages of L1 set in smaller type as usual; frontispiece extended at gutter and along with title slightly discolored, some tiny spots on first and last two leaves, last leaf mended in fore-margin, expertly mended tears in foremargin of leaves 4A3-4, small stain in fore-margin of last few quires. Antique red morocco, gold-tooled frame with floral ornaments, dentelles, spine gilt, edges gilt., by F. Bedford, in a cloth slipcase; edges and joints rubbed.}

Castlecraig Library (bookplate) — unidentified leather bookplate with monogram "CCK" — James Joseph "Gene" Tunney

Wing S–2915; Pforzheimer 910; Greg III, pp. 1119–1121; J. Cavanaugh, Tunney (2006).

Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. Published according to the true Original Copies. Unto which is added, Seven Plays, Never before Printed in Folio ... The Fourth Edition. London: Printed for H. Herringman, E. Brewster, and R. Bentley, 1685 Folio (14 3/8 x 8 7/8 in.; 365 x 225 mm). collation: ()2, A4, A-Y6, Z4, BB-ZZ6, *AAA-DDD6, EEE8, AAA-ZZZ6, AAAA-BBBB6, CCCC2=458 leaves, frontispiece portrait with verses below, title with printer's device (Greg *), woodcut initials, text in 2 columns, roman and italic type, two pages of L1 set in smaller type as usual; frontispiece extended at gutter and along with title slightly discolored, some tiny spots on first and last two leaves, last leaf mended in fore-margin, expertly mended tears in foremargin of leaves 4A3-4, small stain in fore-margin of last few quires. Antique red morocco, gold-tooled frame with floral ornaments, dentelles, spine gilt, edges gilt., by F. Bedford, in a cloth slipcase; edges and joints rubbed.
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Fourth folio edition, first issue of Shakespeare's plays, perhaps the stateliest of all four editions as it is printed on taller paper stock, from the library of Gene Tunney. This edition includes, at the end, Pericles and the six spurious plays The London Prodigall, The History of Thomas Lord Cromwell, Sir John Oldcastle, the Puritan Widow, A Yorkshire Tragedy, and the Tragedy of Locrine. These appeared previously in the 1663–1664 third folio, and in quarto editions of the early part of the century attributed to Shakespeare or "W.S."

The world was surprised to learn of Gene Tunney's literary interests, and the press made the most of it, always asking what he was reading and listening to him lecture on various titles. He had acted in Shakespeare plays in elementary school, but took an active interest while in the Marine Corps where a clerk tutored him. In April 1928, after the "long count" fight, he was asked to lecture to William Lyon Phelps's Shakespeare class at Yale. He spoke on Troilus and Cressida for one half-hour without notes (see Cavanaugh, pp. 375–376).