“THE FINEST SET OF SHAKESPEARE ILLUSTRATIONS EVER MADE”: STUNNING ELEPHANT FOLIO COLLECTION OF PRINTS FOR BOYDELL’S 1803 SHAKESPEARE, WITH 100 MAGNIFICENT ARTIST PLATES

(SHAKESPEARE) BOYDELL, John. A Collection of Prints From Pictures for the Purpose of Illustrating the Dramatic Works of Shakespeare, By the Artists of Great Britain. London: John and Josiah Boydell, 1803. Two volumes. Elephant folio (22 by 28 inches), contemporary full straight-grain red morocco, elaborately gilt-decorated boards and spines, all edges gilt.    $32,000.

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.

In 1786, Boydell “embarked upon the most important enterprise of his life, namely the publication, by subscription, of a series of prints illustrative of Shakespeare, after pictures painted expressly for the work by English artists. For this purpose he gave commissions to all the most celebrated painters of England for pictures, and built a gallery in Pall Mall for their exhibition. The execution of this project extended over several years” (DNB). According to Boydell’s prospectus, a type foundry, an ink factory, and a printing house were all specially erected for this monumental production. England’s finest artists—Reynolds, Smirke, Fuseli, Romney, Westall, Northcote, Hamilton, Threw, Opie, Porter, and others—were employed for the project: “Among the great talents engaged by Boydell it turns out that each artist produced outstanding work… the finest set of Shakespeare illustrations ever made” (Franklin, 216). “There can be no doubt that Boydell’s Shakespeare… was the most splendid of bibliophile editions undertaken in the 18th-century or at any other time… No printing press, which has hitherto existed, ever produced a work in nine large volumes in folio so uniformly beautiful” (Franklin, 47-48). Originally issued with George Steevens’ revised text and in 18 parts forming nine volumes, the first part of Boydell’s Shakespeare was published in 1791. Upon its completion, the whole was again issued in 1802. In the same year, the 100 magnificent plates, “the production of which swallowed up a fortune,” were issued separately for the first time. These were again issued in 1803 and 1804 under the title A Collection of Prints from Pictures Painted for the Purpose of Illustrating the Dramatic Works of Shakespeare. Sets were apparently issued with different numbers of plates, up to 100; this copy’s Plate 49 in Volume II is from Act III, Scene VI of Cymbeline rather than Act III, Scene IV, as in the plate list (Jaggard, 508). With both titles dated 1803 and dedication dated 1805. Plate XLVIII of Volume II mounted. Jaggard, 508.

Plates fine, beautiful contemporary binding in excellent condition. A wonderful production.