The Works of Mr. William Shakespear -Vols III & IV

[ii] [977-979] pp 980-1535 [1536] 7 Plates & Gucht Frontispiece; [ii] [1537-1539] 1540-2072, 6 Plates & Gucht Frontispiece. Two volumes of Nicholas Rowe's 1709 edition of Shakespeare's plays in handsome contemporary trade bindings by the printer, Jacob Tonson. Edited by the poet and dramatist Nicholas Rowe, this edition is the fifth printing of the plays, and the first to follow the four Folio Editions. In editorial terms it is seen as second only to the First Folio in importance. It's the first illustrated edition of Shakespeare with hundreds of emendations to the text, modern punctuation, and recognisable places and names for characters. As one recent critic puts it, this feels like an 'inaugurating moment', and the 1709 edition did indeed pave the way for the explosion of interest in Shakespeare that followed. Both volumes are bound in panelled calf with a double fillet to the boards, blind embossed 'pineapples' and gilt decoration. The spine has five raised bands and embossed in gilt is 'Shakespears Works' with a volume number in the compartment below. Both volumes are from the first issue of the standard paper edition of the Works although unusually both also have the allegorical Shakespeare portrait frontispiece which is only called for in the first volume. The texts are clean throughout; the engraved frontispieces to the plays are uniformly good impressions; the bindings are in very good condition with some wear to the top hinge on both volumes. (C3)