Shakespeare, William | Henry V and Henry VI. From Shakespeare's Second Folio

Shakespeare, William 

The Life of King Henry the Fift ... [Bound with:] The First Part of King Henry the Sixt ... [and with:] The second Part of King Henry the Sixt ... [and with] The third Part of King Henry the Sixt ... London: Printed by Tho. Cotes, 1632

Folio (308 x 216 mm). 69-95; 96-119; 120-146; 147-172pp. 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.

In Henry V, an insult from a French Dauphin pushes the King of England to invade France in order to claim what he believes to be his rightful throne. This play encompasses the events prior to and after the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years' War.

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