Bibliographic format
octavo
General notes
The first edition published after the four folios; the text is based on the fourth folio
Contains the plays only
This is the large paper issue with gutter margin 16 mm minimum; height of text block 22.5 cm minimum. The ordinary paper issue has a gutter margin of about 10 mm and a text block height of about 19.5 cm. There is also a large paper issue in 9 volumes
With a general title page in v. 1; each volume with a volume title page; each play with an individual play title page, reading: Printed in the year 1709
Vol. 1. Signatures: pi² A⁴ a-b⁸ c⁴ B-2G⁸. Pagination: [12], XL, 464 p., [10] leaves of plates. -- v. 2. Signatures: [A]1 B-2K⁸. Pagination: [5], 468-975, [1] p., [8] leaves of plates. -- v. 3. Signatures: [A]1 B-2N⁸. Pagination: [5], 980-1535, [1] p., [8] leaves of plates. -- v. 4. Signatures: [A]1 B-2L⁸ M⁴. Pagination: [5], 1540-2072 p., [7] leaves of plates. -- v. 5. Signatures: [A]1 B-2O⁸. Pagination: [5], 2076-2647, [1] p., [8] leaves of plates. -- v. 6. Signatures: A⁸ (-A1) B-2N⁸. Pagination: [5], 2656-3324 p., [10] leaves of plates
Engraved frontispiece plates lettered: M. Vdr. Gucht sculp.; frontispiece included in each volume. Engraved portrait (v. 1) lettered: B. Arlaud del., G. Duchange scul., Mr. William Shakespear, p. 1 in the life. Engravings for plays lettered for pagination, attributed to artist Boitard and engraver Kirkall (see H.A. Hammelmann, Shakespeare's first illustrators, Apollo, supplement "notes on British art" p. 1-4, August 1968)
The Arlaud-Duchange portrait was issued in v. 1 of the large paper issues in 6 v. and in 9 v. of Rowe's 1709 works of Shakespeare. It was not executed and added later, as claimed by Ford (See Dawson, G.E. The Arlaud-Duchange portrait of Shakespeare. The Library, 1935, s4-XVI (3): 290-294)
Paged continuously; numerous errors in paging
Portions of copies 1 and 2 also available as a digital reproduction
Contents
v. 1. Tempest ; Two gentlemen of Verona ; Merry wives of Windsor ; Measure for measure ; Comedy of errors ; Much ado about nothing ; Love's labour's lost -- v. 2. Midsummer night's dream ; Merchant of Venice ; As you like it ; Taming of the shrew ; All's well that ends well ; Twelfth-night ; Winter's tale -- v. 3. King John ; King Richard II ; King Henry IV. Part 1 ; King Henry IV. Part 2 ; Henry V ; King Henry VI. Part 1 ; King Henry VI. Part 2 -- v. 4. King Henry VI. Part 3 ; King Richard III ; King Henry VIII ; Troilus and Cressida ; Coriolanus ; Titus Andronicus -- v. 5. Romeo and Juliet ; Timon of Athens ; Julius Caesar ; Macbeth ; Hamlet ; King Lear ; Othello -- v. 6. Antony and Cleopatra ; Cymbeline ; Pericles ; London prodigal ; Thomas, Lord Cromwell ; Sir John Oldcastle ; Puritan ; Yorkshire tragedy ; Locrine
Exhibited
Washington, D.C., Folger Shakespeare Library, 2005. David Garrick
Washington, D.C., Folger Shakespeare Library, 2014. Shakespeare's the Thing. Opening: title page (copy 1 v.1)
Washington, D.C. Folger Shakespeare Library, 2016. Will and Jane: Shakespeare, Austen and the Cult of Celebrity. Opening: first page of the biography (copy 1 v.1)
Item information about Folger PR2752 1709a copy 1 Sh.Col
Some minor pencil drawings and manuscript markings. Armorial bookplate (motto: Mutare vel timere sperno) of The Most Noble Henry Duke of Beaufort, 1706; anonymous armorial bookplate (motto: PITCHES). Autograph: Ri. Edgcumbe, 1726 (v. 4). In early red goatskin binding with gold-tooled spine. Uniformly bound and shelved with the large paper 1710 issue of v. 7 (cataloged separately). Owned by Mr. and Mrs. Folger
OPEN IN MIRADOR