Plutarch

Folio (14 5/8 x 9 1/4 in.; 371 x 235 mm). Woodcut initials. red-lined. Signature of the 3rd Earl of Southampton on title-page with his Latin motto "Desinet timere [qui] sperare desierit. W H. Southampton." Lacking "Table alphabetique" and "confirmation du privilège" at the end, the main text complete, title-page and last pages slightly foxed, dampstain on first quire, small wormhole through first twenty pages, wormhole repaired on upper margin of first leaves. Rebound in brown morocco, skillfully preserving the sixteenth-century French calf binding, gilt laurel wreath, spine elaborately gilt.

Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton (signature on title page) — William Charles de Meuron, Earl Fitzwilliam (bookplate; Sotheby's London, April 26, 1948, lot 644) — H. G. Commin (purchased at the foregoing sale). acquisition: Pickering & Chatto, 1993

Adams P1622 

Second edition of Amyot's translation.

Brilliant association copy. Shakespeare's patron's copy.

Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton (1573–1624) was Shakespeare's patron. The playwright dedicated Venus and Adonis in 1593 and The Rape of Lucrece to him, and many of the Sonnets are supposed to be addressed to "the young man": 

A woman's face, with Nature's own hand painted,
Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion; 
A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted
With shifting change, as is false woman's fashion …

The support of Southampton was crucial to Shakespeare during the "plague years" (1592–1593) as the theaters were closed. 

This second edition in French of Amyot is the translation that served as the basis for Thomas North's English version. Shakespeare used Plutarch as a primary source for Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus.