The Historie of Henry the Fourth - photo 1

The Historie of Henry the Fourth

Lot 115
02.02.2024 10:00UTC -04:00
Classic
Sold
$ 60 480
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
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Archive
ID 1129733
Lot 115 | The Historie of Henry the Fourth
Estimate value
$ 20 000 – 30 000
SHAKESPEARE, William (1564-1616). The Historie of Henry the Fourth: with the Battell at Shrewsbury betweene the King, and Lord Henry Percy, surnamed Henry Hotspur of the North. London: John Norton, sold by Hugh Perry, 1639.

The earliest obtainable quarto edition of “the first totally successful product of Shakespeare’s mature talent” (Ruoff). We are unable to trace any other copy at auction since 1977, nor any copy of an earlier quarto edition since 1948. The second in the Henriad series of history plays, it introduces a number of key Shakespearean characters, including Sir John Falstaff, in verse that “is lively and expressive […] consistently fluent and colloquial, as though Shakespeare had emerged from writing Romeo and Juliet with an inspired awareness of the great possibilities of the medium.” First published in a quarto edition of 1598, this is the eighth quarto edition overall, of which Bartlett and Pollard record 27 copies in their 1939 census, the great majority in institutional holdings. The online Shakespeare Census now records the locations of 26 copies, including one that was registered by Bartlett and Pollard as belonging to the 1632 quarto edition, but does not locate the C.A. Alington (269) or Rosenbach (291) copies listed by Bartlett and Pollard. The present example has the same measurements as the Alington copy, contains manuscript notes as that one does, and might reasonably be described as being bound ‘in boards’ as that one is. Bartlett and Pollard, p.25; Jaggard p.328; STC 22287.

Quarto (179 x 130mm). (Browned throughout, a few leaves including title slightly frayed, small marginal chip in B2, very minor closed tear just into text at foot of F2, small stain at foot of H1-2.) Late 18th-century half calf (rubbed, upper joint cracked but holding); housed in a cloth chemise with full morocco slipcase. Provenance: a few early annotations or corrections in red ink – remains of paper label with number in ink manuscript on upper board – possibly "Booth family" and Cyril A. Alington, 1872-1955 (1939 census description) – Christie’s, 22 October 1992, lot 455.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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