Dramatic Works of SHAKESPEARE Boydell Folio Edition Volume 1

Description: The Dramatic Works of Shakspeare. Revised by George Steevens. London: Printed by W. Bulmer & Co., Shakspeare Printing Office, for John & Josiah Boydell, George and W.Nicol, 1802. Please NOTE: : This auction includes Volume 1 ONLY. Sold strictly AS IS. Boards detached but present. The boards are detached from bindings. Binding broken, text block still together. Spine leather flaking, a few leaves detached, offsetting from plates, some scattered foxing and spotting to pages, some damping here and there. Volume 1 includes 13 engraved plates including a superb portrait of Shakespeare and includes the plays: The Tempest, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Measure for Measure. From the celebrated Boydell folio edition, illustrated with a series of large copper plates after contemporary artists including Henry Fuseli, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Westall, Ibbetson, Boydell, Thomas Stothard, et al. The most lavish production of Shakespeare to the date of publication. A dedicated type foundry, an Ink factory and a printing plant were all erected especially for the production of this sublime edition, which began production in 1791, and was completed in 1802. A landmark both in the history of Shakespeare’s literary reputation and in fine printing. From Wikipedia: “The "magnificent and accurate" Shakespeare edition which Boydell began in 1786 was to be the focus of his enterprise—he viewed the print folio and the gallery as offshoots of the main project.[16] In an advertisement prefacing the first volume of the edition, Nicol wrote that "splendor and magnificence, united with correctness of text were the great objects of this Edition".[32] The volumes themselves were handsome, with gilded pages that, unlike those in previous scholarly editions, were unencumbered by footnotes. Each play had its own title page followed by a list of "Persons in the Drama". Boydell spared no expense. He hired the typography experts William Bulmer and William Martin to develop and cut a new typeface specifically for the edition. Nicol explains in the preface that they "established a printing-house ... [and] a foundry to cast the types; and even a manufactory to make the ink".[33] Boydell also chose to use high-quality wove Whatman paper.[34] The illustrations were printed independently and could be inserted and removed as the purchaser desired. The first volumes of the Dramatic Works were published in 1791 and the last in 1805.” The boards are detached from bindings. Binding broken, text block still together. Spine leather flaking, a few leaves detached, offsetting from plates, some scattered foxing and spotting to pages, some damping here and there. “There can be no doubt that Boydell's Shakespeare. was the most splendid of bibliophile editions undertaken in the 18th-century or at any other time" (Franklin, p. 47). The king's printer, George Nicol, stated "no printing press, which has hitherto existed, ever produced a work in nine large volumes in folio so uniformly beautiful" (Franklin p. 48). Boydell hired typographers William Bulmer and William Martin to develop and cut a new typeface specifically for the edition and sought out the most eminent painters and engravers of the day to contribute engravings to the folios. With gorgeous elegant strikingly modern typography. Volume 1 ONLY. SOLD AS IS.

Price: 125 USD

Location: Bronx, New York

End Time: 2025-01-05T23:53:10.000Z

Shipping Cost: 16.88 USD