"Books are a hardbound drug with no danger of overdose. I am the happy victim of books."
— Karl Lagerfeld
William Shakespeare | First Editions
1564 - 1616
See below our stock of William Shakespeare First Editions, fine bindings, sets and other collectible material.
Tales From Shakspeare. Designed for the Use of Young People.
London: George Routledge and Sons, no date [circa 1880]. [Children's Illustrated] GILBERT ILLUSTRATIONS. Octavo (17 X 11cm), pp.[2] viii; 371; [3]. With eight wood engraved illustrations by Gilbert, including a frontispiece. Contemporary green half morocco with raised bands, gilt titles to spine and marbled boards. All edges and endpapers marbled..... More
Tales From Shakespeare. [writings/plays including Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, etc.]
London: J.M. Dent and Co., 1909. First Rackham Illustrated Edition. Quarto, with 12 colour plates and other black and white drawings. Publisher's red cloth with titles and decoration in gilt to spine and upper, top edge gilt, others tinted green, illustrated endpapers, in original dust-wrapper. Book is near fine, jacket..... More
Tales From Shakespeare [writings/plays including Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, etc.] By Charles and Mary Lamb. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
London: J.M. Dent and Co. 1909. First Rackham Illustrated Edition. Quarto, with 12 colour plates and other black and white drawings. Publisher's green cloth with titles and decoration in gilt to spine and upper, top edge gilt, illustrated end papers, original printed dust-wrapper. Lightly rubbed to extremities, edges toned, offset..... More
A Midsummer-Night's Dream. With Illustrations by W. Heath Robinson
Constable and Co. Ltd., London, 1914. FIRST HEATH ROBINSON EDITION, trade issue, in the first of three publisher's bindings. Quarto, pp. 185. With twelve mounted coloured plates and thirty-two black & white illustrations. All tissue guards intact. Mid-green cloth blocked in gilt and colours. Some light edge-spotting, Constable's catalogue insert..... More
The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare, With a Biographical Introduction by Henry Glassford Bell.
Glasgow, Edinburgh and London: William Collins, 1864. [Shakespeare's Plays] ONE-VOLUME EDITION. Small quarto (24 x 17cm), pp.li; [1]; 952; [2]. With 15 etched plates including a frontispiece, and a steel-engraved vignette title page. In contemporary black full morocco with raised bands, gilt titles to spine and extensive gilt decoration to..... More
The Tragedies of Shakespeare.
London: Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press, 1912. [Shakespeare's plays] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 14cm), pp.[viii]; 1315; [1]. Oxford binding of quarter vellum over blue cloth boards, gilt decoration and titles to spine, top-edge gilt, housed in the original card slipcase. Frontispiece from a drawing by Sir George Scharf. Ownership..... More
The Leopold Shakespeare. The Poet's Works in Chronological Order, from the text of Professor Delius, with "The Two Noble Kinsmen" and "Edward III.," and an Introduction by F.J. Furnivall.
London: Cassell, Petter and Galpin, no date [circa 1880]. [Shakespeare's Works] FINELY BOUND, with illustrations. Octavo (21 x 16cm), pp.[2] cxxvi; 1056. With a frontispiece etching of the Bard, and frequent in-text wood engravings. Contemporary red half morocco with raised bands and gilt titles and decoration to spine. Red cloth..... More
Shakespeare's Comedy of The Tempest, with illustrations by Edmund Dulac.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, no date [circa 1908]. [Children's Illustrated] EARLY THUS. Quarto (29 x 23cm), pp.xxiv; 144. With 40 tipped-in chromolithographic plates, including a frontispiece, each with a captioned tissue guard. Publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper board. A little shaken, slightly toned to edges;..... More
Shakespeare's Comedy of The Tempest, with illustrations by Edmund Dulac.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, no date [1908]. [Illustrated] FIRST DULAC ILLUSTRATED EDITION. Quarto, pp.144. With 40 mounted coloured plates tipped on green card, each with captioned tissue guards. Publisher's mid-green cloth pictorially stamped in gilt, green endpapers. Some occasional spotting, more so to first and final leaves, neat gift inscription..... More
The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare, with notes, critical, historical, and explanatory, selected from the most eminent commentators: to which is prefixed a life of the author.
London: Saunders and Otley, 1825. Eight volumes. Octavo. Bound in contemporary brown calf, with gilt ruling and blind tooling to boards, rebacked to style, with original black labels, raised bands and gilt decoration; all edges marbled, original grey endpapers with bookplate. Bindings show well, boards show some rubbing, with occasional..... More
Works of Shakespeare. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by C. H. Herford.
London: Macmillan and Co., 1901-1912. FINELY BOUND. In ten volumes. Crown octavo (18 x 13cm), pp.[2] xxii, 389 [2]; pp.[2] vi, 572 [2]; pp.[2] vi, 500 [2]; pp.[2] vi, 494 [2]; pp.[2] viii, 542 [2]; pp.[2] iv, 515 [3]; pp.[2] vi, 521 [3]; pp.[2] vi, 417 [3]; pp.[2] vi, 398..... More
The Plays of William Shakespeare. Edited by Thomas Keightley.
London: J.S. Virtue and Co., Limited, no date [1892-1894]. [Plays] ILLUSTRATED AND FINELY BOUND. Four volumes bound as two, large octavo (28 x 21 x 9cm). Contemporary dark green half calf over green cloth boards, gilt titles to a red morocco label to spine, blue/green endpapers, edges speckled red. Text..... More
The Works of Shakespeare, with three hundred and forty illustrations by Sir John Gilbert.
London: George Routledge and Sons, 1889. [Complete Works] FINELY BOUND AND ILLUSTRATED. Two volumes. Quarto (28 x 20cm), pp.560; pp.560. With a frontispiece engraving of the Bard by E.W. Robinson to volume I, and frequent vignette wood engravings by Gilbert throughout. Text printed in two columns. Contemporary red half calf..... More
The Works of William Shakespeare; containing his Plays and Poems, from the Text of the Editions by Charles Knight: with Glossarial Notes; and Facts connected with his Life and Writings, abridged from 'William Shakespeare, a Biography.'
London: H. G. Bohn, 1857. [Shakespeare's plays and poems] FINELY BOUND AND ILLUSTRATED, the seventh edition thus. Large octavo (24 x 17cm), pp.[2] iv; 1080 [2]. Illustrated with a fine wood engraved plate for every play or section, as well as a frontispiece, by William Harvey, a pupil of Thomas..... More
A Midsummer Night's Dream. With Illustrations by Arthur Rackham.
London: William Heinemann, 1908. [Fantasy drama] First Rackham Illustrated Edition. Quarto (25 x 19cm), pp.134. With 40 tipped-in colour plates, each with captioned tissue guards. Publisher's light brown cloth pictorially stamped in gilt, top edge tinted brown. Contents clean, some spotting to endpapers, neat contemporary inscription to flyleaf, binding a...... More
A Midsummer Night's Dream. With Illustrations by Arthur Rackham.
London: William Heinemann, 1908. [Fantasy drama] First Rackham Illustrated Edition. Quarto (25 x 19cm), pp.134. With forty tipped-in colour plates, each with captioned tissue guards. Bound in recent mid-brown half morocco with gilt-lettered title labels and tooling to spine over publisher's original gilt-pictorial boards. Contents clean, exterior as new. A...... More
A Midsummer Night's Dream. With Illustrations by Arthur Rackham.
London: William Heinemann, 1908. [Fantasy drama] First Rackham Illustrated Edition, SIGNED LIMITED ISSUE. Large Quarto (30 x 24cm), pp.134; [1], blank; [1], imprint. With forty tipped-in colour plates, each with captioned tissue guards. Publisher's full parchment over boards pictorially blocked in gilt, fore-edge ties, top edge gilt. Number 712 of..... More
A Midsummer Night's Dream. With Illustrations by Arthur Rackham.
London: William Heinemann, 1908. [Fantasy drama] First Rackham Illustrated Edition, SIGNED LIMITED ISSUE. Large Quarto (30 x 24cm), pp.134; [1], blank; [1], imprint. With forty tipped-in colour plates, each with captioned tissue guards. Handsomely bound in blue full oasis morocco, with twin red labels to spine, gilt decoration, marbled endpapers..... More
The Works of Shakespeare;
London: Routledge, Warne and Routledge, 1862. [Complete Works] FINELY BOUND AND ILLUSTRATED. Three volumes. Quarto (26 x 19 x 17cm). Liberally illustrated with in-text engravings by the Dalziel brothers, after Gilbert. Contemporary red half morocco with raised bands, gilt titles and decoration to spines, and red leather-grain-effect cloth over boards..... More
Shakespeare's Poems 1640.
London: Alfred Russell Smith, 1885. [Verse] LIMITED EDITION, Number 42 of 250 copies SIGNED by the Publisher. Octavo (19 x 13cm), not paginated. With frontispiece portrait, title page printed in black and red. Bound in red half calf over marbled sides, gilt-lettered title label, page edges untrimmed. Minor toning and..... More
The Works of William Shakespeare.
London: Archibald Constable, n.d [c.1910]. FINELY BOUND EDITION. 12 volumes. Crown octavo (19 x 14 x 40cm). Half scarlet calf by The Times Bindery, with green morocco title labels, gilt to spine, matching buckram sides, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers. Contents a little thumbed, bindings with the odd mark or..... More
The Works of Shakespeare. Edited by Israel Gollancz. With many illustrations, antiquarian and topographical.
London: J.M. Dent and Co., 1899. 12 volumes; 8vo. Contemporary binding by Riviere in half red calf with gilt titles and gilt to spines, red cloth boards, top edges gilt, marbled end papers. Illustrated with full page and in text drawings. Frontispiece portrait in colour. A lovely set, very lightly..... More
The Songs and Sonnets of William Shakespeare. Illustrated by Charles Robinson.
London: Duckworth and Co. n.d. [1915]. [Illustrated Poetry] FIRST ROBINSON EDITION. Quarto (25 x 19cm), pp.240. Illustrated with 12 mounted colour plates, captioned tissues (one slightly short), and numerous two-tone illustrations and letter pieces. Recently bound in full red half morocco with gilt titles to spine, gilt border to covers..... More
The Songs and Sonnets of William Shakespeare. Illustrated by Charles Robinson.
London: Duckworth and Co., no date [1915]. [Illustrated Poetry] FIRST ROBINSON EDITION. Quarto (25 x 19cm), pp.240. Illustrated with 12 mounted colour plates, captioned tissues (one slightly short), and numerous two-tone illustrations and letter pieces. Recently bound in red half morocco over publisher's blind-stamped red cloth sides, with gilt-lettered title..... More
The Plays. Accurately printed from the Text of the Corrected Copies left by the late George Steevens and Edmond Malone, with Mr. Malone's various Readings. A selection of Explanatory and Historical Notes, from the most eminent Commentators. A History of the Stage, and a Life of Shakespeare, by Alexander Chalmers. The works include: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, King Lear, Antony & Cleopatra, The Merchant of Venice, etc.
London: Printed for Longman and Co., Rivington,... 1856. 8 volumes, 8vo. Contemporary full tan calf boards with gilt rule, later respined in light calf with twin, red and maroon title labels, and gilt tooling to spines; marbled end papers and edges. Portrait frontispiece of Shakespeare to volume I. Corners rubbed;..... More