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“HOW MANY AGES HENCE SHALL THIS OUR LOFTY SCENE BE ACTED OVER”
[SHAKESPEARE, William]. Julius Caesar. London, 1691. Rare 1691 second quarto edition of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, with a brilliance fully realized in “the extraordinary lines of Brutus, deep in thought, as he sets in motion one of the most consequential events in Western history. It’s one of Shakespeare’s first great soliloquies,” handsomely bound. $40,000.
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“NO PRINTING PRESS, WHICH HAS HITHERTO EXISTED EVER PRODUCED A WORK… SO UNIFORMLY BEAUTIFUL”
BOYDELL, John. Dramatic Works of Shakespeare. London, 1803. Two volumes. Magnificent 1803 elephant folio issue of the prints for the sumptuous Boydell Shakespeare, with engraved frontispieces and engraved title vignettes for each volume and 96 splendid full-page copperplate engravings (totaling 100 engravings) after works by the period’s most eminent English artists—including Reynolds, Romney, Smirke, Stothard, Fuseli and Westall. $32,000.
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AN ELIZABETHAN CORNERSTONE, A MAJOR SOURCE FOR SHAKESPEARE: FIRST EDITION OF HOLINSHED’S CHRONICLES, 1577, WITH HUNDREDS OF WOODCUTS OF HISTORICAL EVENTS
HOLINSHED, Raphael. Firste (and Laste) Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlands, and Irelande. London, 1577. Two volumes. Scarce and important first edition of the foremost Elizabethan repository of English history, being the primary source for nearly all of Shakespeare’s historical plays, as well as Macbeth, King Lear, and part of Cymbeline (he used the 1587 unillustrated edition). This edition contains hundreds of in-text woodcuts (omitted from later editions), numerous portraits of kings and dignitaries, large two-column battle scenes, and such notable events as Macbeth’s encounter with the three “weird sisters… women in straunge and wild apparell, resembling creatures of elder worlde.” $30,000.
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INSCRIBED BY HEMINGWAY
HEMINGWAY, Ernest. Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories. New York, 1938. First edition, inscribed: “To Elizabeth Youngstrom, with all good wishes, Ernest Hemingway.” The recipient worked directly for Hemingway’s publisher, Charles Scribner. $18,500.
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FIRST EDITION OF WILDE’S SALOMÉ, IMPORTANT ASSOCIATION COPY
WILDE, Oscar. Salome. Drame en un Acte. Paris, London, 1893. First edition of Wilde’s controversial play, one of only 600 copies (500 for sale), in original purple paper wrappers, this copy that of one of Wilde’s closest friends, Robert Ross. $16,500.
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INSCRIBED BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
WILLIAMS, Tennessee. The Rose Tattoo. (New York), 1951[ie, 1951]. First edition of Williams’ “celebration of the inebriate god,” inscribed by the playwright to Cheryl Crawford, who produced the play’s first run: “To Cheryl with my heart’s true love—Tennessee.” Laid in is a flyer for Crawford’s 1977 memoir, One Naked Individual: My Fifty Years in the Theatre, with notes on the verso in Crawford’s hand about Camino Real and a prop list for Rose Tattoo. $9200.
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“DRAMATIST, FRIEND AND CONTEMPORARY OF SHAKESPEARE”
JONSON, Ben. Works. London, 1692. First edition of the scarce “first complete collected edition” of Jonson’s Works, with engraved frontispiece portrait and the first collected printing of The New Inn, handsomely bound. $9000.
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96 FOLIO ENGRAVINGS FOR BOYDELL’S SHAKESPEARE, WITH EARLY STATE PROOF IMPRESSIONS
BOYDELL, John. Boydell’s Graphic Illustrations of the Dramatic Works of Shakespeare. London, 1804. Magnificent 1804 impressions of the 96 engravings for the sumptuous Boydell Shakespeare, after paintings by the period’s most eminent English artists—including Reynolds, Romney, Smirke, Stothard, Fuseli and Westall—with an engraver’s etched working proof for nearly every plate. $9000.
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1771 DUBLIN EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS AND POEMS IN LOVELY CONTEMPORARY TREE CALF GILT
SHAKESPEARE, William. Plays. Dublin, 1771. Seven volumes in thirteen. Handsome 18th-century set of Shakespeare’s works, in contemporary tree calf gilt. $8500.
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BOLDLY SIGNED BY MARILYN MONROE
MONROE, Marilyn. Program signed. Philadelphia, September 27, 1959. Original 1959 program for a Philadelphia benefit honoring Arthur Miller’s achievements and the receipt of an honorary degree from the Hebrew University, signed on the title page by Marilyn Monroe, then married to Miller and soon to star in The Misfits, a movie written by Miller that was filmed within months of this benefit. $6800.
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