The Spirit of the Plays of Shakespeare. HOWARD (Frank).

SHAKESPEARE IN PICTURES, BOUND BY HAYDAY

The Spirit of the Plays of Shakespeare, Exhibited in a Series of Outline Plates Illustrative of the Story of each Play. Drawn and Etched by Frank Howard. With Quotations and Descriptions.

481 etched plates.

First Edition. Five volumes. 8vo. [220 x 140 x 204 mm]. [2]ff, viii, [iii], 10-19, 9, 19, 10, 14, 12 pp; viii, 14, 15, 9, 19, 23, 10 pp; x, 12, 11, 12, 12, 13, 8, 12, 13, 10, 14, 9 pp; ix, [i], 19, 12, 9, 8, 8, 12, 13, 8 pp; viii, 15, 19, 13, 10, 13, 17, 7 pp. Contemporary binding by Hayday (signed with an ink pallet on front endleaves) of half brown goatskin, marbled paper sides, the spines divided into six panels with gilt compartments, lettered in the second and third panels and at the foot, the others tooled with gouges and small volutes and dots, marbled endleaves, marbled edges. (Sides a little rubbed).

London: [by Davison, Simmons, and Co.] for T. Cadell, J.G. and F. Rivington, Baldwin and Craddock, and J. Booker, 1833

The Contents calls for 13 plates in Anthony and Cleopatra but only 11 were bound in. All the plates are interleaved with blanks. There is some light spotting or foxing but it is a fine set, in a handsome Hayday binding.

The Postscript claims this to be the "most complete series of illustrations of any poet ever published. Every subject afforded by the action of the plays, whether intended to be performed on the stage or only to be related in the course of the dialogue, has been given the closest attention to costume and character; so that each connected series of plates should develop a narrative, and that narrative be Shakespeare".

Stock no. ebc3793