SHAKESPEARE, William [NICHOLS, John (1745-1826); STEEVENS, George (1736-1800)]

Six Old Plays, on Which Shakspeare Founded His Measure for Measure, Comedy of Errors, Taming the Shrew, King John, K. Henry IV, and K. Henry V, King Lear. In Two Volumes.

S. Leacroft, and sold By J. Nichols, T. Evans, and H. Payne, London, 1779

8vo, two vols in one; pp. viii, [2], 215, [4], 220–464.

A BEAUTIFUL COPY, IN EARLY 19TH CENTORY FULL CALF BINDING.

This volume of important Elizabethan dramas was produced during the first flourishing of true critical Shakespearean scholarship, and was edited and published by John Nichols, at the suggestion of the scholar George Steevens, the leading 18th century scholar of Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre. Over two volumes (bound as one) it brings together the following works:

1. Promos and Cassandra [by George Whetstone; first published 1578, with Whetstone’s important preface included]

2. Menaechmi [Plautus, translated by William Warner, published 1595]

3. The Taming of a Shrew [from the 1607 edition]

4. The Troublesome Reign of K. John. Part I [published in 1611 and falsely attributed to Shakespeare himself]

5. The Troublesome Reign of K. John. Part II [see Part I]

6. The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth [from the 1617 edition]

7. The True Chronicle History of King Leir and His Three Daughters, Gonorill, Ragan, and Cordella [from the 1605 edition]

Aside from its interest as a work of Shakespeare scholarship, this volume also comprises the earliest obtainable printings of all of these texts.

Very good condition: binding showing only the very lightest marking; internally very good throughout.