Shakespeare, William

The Dramatic Works of Shakespeare, revised by George Steevens. London: W. Bulmer and Co. for John and Josiah Boydell, [1791–] 1802



9 volumes, folio (17 x 13 in.; 433 x 332 mm). 96 engraved plates after Reynolds, Romney, Opie, Bunbury, Westall, and others, general titles and half-titles; lacking the leaf of "Directions to the Bookbinder," a bit of scattered foxing. Contemporary diced brown calf, blue-coated endpapers, gilt edges; expertly rebacked to style retaining the original green morocco lettering-pieces, some repair to corners.

A handsome, complete set of the monumental Boydell edition, for which a type foundry, ink factory, and printing house were all specially built. "Boydell in 1786 embarked upon the most important enterprise of his life, the publication, by subscription, of a series of prints illustrative of Shakespeare, after pictures painted expressly for the work by English artists. For this purpose he gave commissions to all the the most celebrated painters of England. ... Boydell's Shakespeare was the first great effort of the kind ever made by English artists, and its influence cannot easily be overestimated" (DNB). "No Printing Press ... ever produced a work in nine large volumes in folio so uniformly beautiful" (Franklin, Shakespeare Domesticated, p. 47).