Antiquarian Auctions

Auction #115 begins on 30 May 2024

[Shakespeare (William)]

THE STANDARD EDITION OF THE PICTORIAL SHAKESPERE

Edited by Charles Knight.

Published: Charles Knight and Co., London, 1846

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Introductory volume

Comedies, 2 volumes

Histories, 2 volumes

Tragedies, 2 volumes

7 volumes bound in tree calf which has been expertly rebacked (with the binder’s ticket of J. Rodwell, 46 New Bond Street, London), red title labels and gilt decoration in panels on the spine, marbled edges and endpapers, cloth hinges. Engraved frontispiece portrait in volume 1 (with off setting on the title page opposite),many full page and other wood engraved illustrations throughout the text, a very good set. 

‘The spelling of William Shakespeare's name has varied over time. It was not consistently spelled any single way during his lifetime, in manuscript or in printed form. After his death the name was spelled variously by editors of his work, and the spelling was not fixed until well into the 20th century.

 ‘The standard spelling of the surname as "Shakespeare" was the most common published form in Shakespeare's lifetime, but it was not one used in his own handwritten signatures. It was, however, the spelling used by the author as a printed signature to the dedications of the first editions of his poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. It is also the spelling used in the First Folio, the definitive collection of his plays published in 1623, after his death. 

‘The spelling of the name was later modernised, "Shakespear" gaining popular usage in the 18th century, which was largely replaced by "Shakspeare" from the late 18th through the early 19th century. In the Romantic and Victorian eras the spelling "Shakspere", as used in the poet's own signature, became more widely adopted in the belief that this was the most authentic version. From the mid-19th to the early 20th century, a wide variety of spellings were used for various reasons; although, following the publication of the Cambridge and Globe editions of Shakespeare in the 1860s, "Shakespeare" began to gain ascendancy. It later became a habit of writers who believed that someone else wrote the plays to use different spellings when they were referring to the "real" playwright and to the man from Stratford upon Avon. With rare exceptions, the spelling is now standardised in English-speaking countries as "Shakespeare".’

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelling_of_Shakespeare%27s_name

  • Overall Condition: Very good
  • Size: Tall 8vo (245 x 165 mm)
  • Sold By: Clarke's Africana & Rare Books
  • Contact Person: Paul Mills
  • Country: South Africa
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Telephone: 021 794 0600
  • Preferred Payment Methods: Visa & Mastercard via PayGate secure links and Bank transfers.
  • Trade Associations: ABA - ILAB, SABDA


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