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The Second Folio

Lot 23
06.10.2022 12:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 277 200
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
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The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 813678
Lot 23 | The Second Folio
Estimate value
$ 200 000 – 300 000
The Second Folio

William Shakespeare, 1632

SHAKESPEARE, William (1564-1616). Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. Published according to the true Originall Copies. The second Impression. Edited by John Heminge (d. 1630) and Henry Condell (d. 1627). London: Printed by Thomas Cotes, for Robert Allot, 1632.



Shakespeare's Second Folio, first issue, containing John Milton's first appearance in print—a fine copy in red morocco. Shakespeare’s collected works are considered the most important and influential in the English language, described by Samuel Johnson as “the mirrour of life” and by his contemporary Ben Jonson as “not of an age but for all time.” The urge to read, rather than just see, Shakespeare’s plays surfaced in his own lifetime, with about half of his works appearing as single quarto editions. The First Folio, collecting Shakespeare’s plays for the first time and dividing them into the thematic categories of Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies was issued in 1623; this Second Folio, appearing nine years later, is a page-for-page reprint of the First Folio. While errors were introduced during the course of reprinting, “the text of the present edition shows signs of careful, if unauthoritative, revision” (Greg).



John Milton’s epitaph to Shakespeare in 16 verses, beginning “What neede my Shakespeare for his honour'd bones” appears under an 8-line verse “Upon the Effigies” on leaf A5r. This leaf and the title-page, with which it is conjugate, are recorded in various issues and states, indicating which of the five publishers of the Second Folio was responsible for that allocation of copies. This copy is Todd's state "Allot a" and setting 1b of the imprint; the watermark is on the title leaf. According to Todd, this state indicates that this is one of the copies reserved for the Cotes brothers. Greg III:1113; Pforzheimer 906; STC 22274; W.B. Todd. ‘The Issues and States of the Second Folio and Milton's Epitaph,’ in: Studies in Bibliography V (1952-53), pp 81-108.



Median folio (333 x 223mm). 454 leaves: COMPLETE. Roman and italic types. Double column, 66 lines, headlines and catchwords, pages box-ruled, woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials, engraved portrait of Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout in third state (To the Reader leaf extended at top and bottom margins with repaired tear to outer edge, some small edge repairs, d5 with repaired tear affecting a few letters, a few paper flaws affecting printed area). 19th-century red morocco by Bedford and Clarke, edges gilt. Provenance: James Carnegie, 9th Earl of Southesk (1827-1905; bookplate) – Albert Natural (1918-2002, Swiss diplomat; bookplate).

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