Shakespeare, William | The Winter's Tale. From Shakespeare's Second Folio

Shakespeare, William

The Winter's Tale. London: Printed by Tho. Cotes, 1632

Folio (308 x 216 mm). 277-303, [1]pp. Expertly bound to style in paneled calf, covers tooled in blind, upper cover gilt lettered.

From Shakespeare's second folio

Shakespeare's famed four folios comprise the first four editions of his collected plays, all printed in the 17th century. The second folio of 1632, like the first folio of 1623, contains 36 plays. It is estimated that fewer than 1,000 copies of the second folio were printed and fewer than 200 copies are in existence today.

"The Winter's Tale" is split into two parts, set sixteen years apart. In the first, Leontes, the King of Sicilia, becomes irrationally paranoid about his pregnant wife's fidelity when his friend, Polixenes, begins staying with them. He orders Polixenes to be killed, places his wife under arrest, and orders the baby be banished to Bohemia. In the second part, the baby, Perdita, is grown, and has fallen in love with Polixenes' son.

The Shakespeare Folios have "an aura of book magic about them. For a bibliophile it is a volume devoutly to be wished for and rarely attained; to a library it is a crowning jewel of a collection. Shakespeare, indeed, is a name to conjure with. No lengthy explanations are needed; he is simply the most distinguished author in the English language" (Wolf).

REFERENCE

STC 22274a; Greg III:1113-1116; Jaggard, 496; Pforzheimer 906; Wolf, Legacies of Genuis 36