Boaden, John

In Inquiry into the Authenticity of Various Pictures and Prints, which, from the Decease of the Poet to our own times, have been offered to the public as Portraits of Shakspeare. London: Printed for Robert Triphook, 1824



In 8s (8 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.; 216 x 141 mm). Five engraved plates of portraits of Shakespeare.

Albert Henry Wiggin (bookplate) — Lynde Selden (bookplates)

Lacking half-title
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First edition of a pioneering study of the iconography of William Shakespeare, with 10 miniature portraits Shakespeare by Miss Currie, including three discovered after the publication of Boaden's work. Crushed green morocco, the covers with a gilt border of two fillets filled with dots and gilt with an overall design of floral and foliate tools, each cover inset with four small oval miniature portraits and a larger central oval miniature portrait, all on ivory by Miss Currie; the spine similarly gilt in six compartments with floral and foliate tools; board edges with double gilt fillet; turn-ins gilt-panelled with fillets and dotted lines and floral-tooled cornerpieces, the foot of the front turn-in signed "Bound by Rivière & Son," foot of the rear turn-in signed "Miniatures by C. B. Currie," red moiré silk linings, gilt edges. Red morocco solander case gilt. 

The portraits on the front cover represent the ones illustrated in Boaden's book (W. Marshall's engraving from the 1640 Poems, Martin Droeshout's engraving from the First Folio, Cornelius Jansen's portrait, John Boaden from the Stratford bust, and the Chandos head); the portraits on the rear cover represent two likenesses discussed by Boaden but not illustrated by him (the Zucchero portrait and the Felton head) and three that evidently came to light subsequent to Boaden's study.