Beschreibung:

SHAKESPEARE, William (1564-1616). Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. Published according to the true Original Copies. The third Impression. And unto this Impression is added seven Playes, never before Printed in Folio . Edited by John Heminge (d. 1630) and Henry Condell (d. 1627), except for Pericles and six spurious plays added by the publisher, Philip Chetwin (d. 1680). London: Printed [by Roger Daniel (190 edition sheets), John Hayes or Thomas Ratcliffe (46 sheets), and Alice Warren (21 sheets)] for P.C. 1664 (first-issue title: Philip Chetwinde, 1663). THE RICHARD FARMER-BRITWELL COURT COPY OF THE THIRD FOLIO Median 2 o (344 x 225 mm). 516 leaves: COMPLETE (see collation below). Four paper-stocks represented in the second-issue sheets (frontispiece and first title, additional plays), three of which are also found -- as well as at least three more stocks -- in the first-issue sheets (other preliminaries and the main bulk of the book reset from the Second Folio); composition units from all three presses involved share paper-stocks between them. Roman and italic text types 82mm, cursive for headings, various larger romans and cursives in the preliminaries. Double column, 66 lines, headlines and catchwords, pages box-ruled, woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials, Shakespeare's portrait in third state. CONTEMPORARY BINDING: English calf gilt, border of double fillets on sides, small tool and double fillets in compartments of spine, red morocco lettering piece "SHAKESPEAR WORKS" (rebacked, preserving most of the old spine, repair to the corners, edges and gilt fillets of the covers). Red morocco pull-off case. The third collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, known as THE THIRD FOLIO, second issue. It is a reprint of the Second Folio, but also contains seven added plays, of which only Pericles is authentic. The first issue came out without the added plays and with or without the portrait on the 1663 title. The second issue added the seven plays and is known with the frontispiece-portrait captioned by Jonson's verses cancelling the "To the Reader" leaf and the 1664 title cancelling the 1663 title, or with both the cancels and the cancellanda present (as in this copy from the Farmer and Britwell collections and the Ham House - Foyle copy in contemporary morocco [Christie's London, 12 July 2000, lot 455]). Three paper-stocks in the preliminaries and the beginning and final quires of the book reappear in the added plays (all printed by Roger Daniel), indicating that the decision to print the extra quires was hardly delayed. They no doubt added to the cost of the book, and a customer may have been given the choice of their inclusion or omission even after they were made available; early buyers of first-issue copies could no doubt purchase the extra plays separately and their binders might not always trouble with the intended cancellations, but simply added the new title and frontispiece. FINE ASSOCIATION COPY from the learned library of Richard Farmer, who in the only work published during his lifetime (1767) brilliantly demonstrated that Shakespeare's knowledge of classical history had been obtained at second hand from printed Elizabethan translations. The Third Folio is probably the rarest of the four and hard to find on the market in unrestored condition. COLLATION: π 2 (intended to cancel A1-2, 1r blank, 1v frontispiece of Martin Droeshout's engraved portrait of the author, underneath Ben Jonson's verses To the Reader , 2r second-issue title with woodcut vignette, verso blank); A 4 b 6 (A1-2 left uncancelled, A1 here folded and inserted to follow its conjugate A4, A1r blank, A1v To the Reader , A2r first-issue title in the state without the portrait, verso blank, A3 editors' dedication to the Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery, A4 editors' note To the great variety of Readers , b1r L. Digges' verses To the Memory of the deceased Authour , b1v anonymous verses Upon the Effigies , and To the Memory of Mr. W. Shakespeare