SIGNED LIMITED FIRST EDITION OF THE CHISWICK PRESS SHAKESPEARE, ONE OF ONLY 38 COPIES SPECIALLY BOUND BY SANGORSKI & SUTCLIFFE AND SIGNED BY THE EDITOR, ILLUSTRATOR, PUBLISHER, PRINTER, AND BINDER

SHAKESPEARE. Works. London: George Bell & Sons, 1899-1902. Thirty-nine volumes bound as twenty. Octavo, original three-quarter brown calf, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, raised bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, uncut. $3800.

Signed limited first edition of the Chiswick Press edition of Shakespeare's complete plays, poems, and sonnets, number 33 of only 38 copies (out of a total edition of 200 copies) printed on Japanese vellum and signed by the editor, illustrator, publisher, printer, and binder; beautifully illustrated by acclaimed British artist Byam Shaw; and specially bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe.

Famous for its revival of fine printing in England, the Chiswick Press gained recognition for its popularly priced classics and for having published some of William Morris' early designs. Despite operating within the confines of a commercial environment, the Press successfully maintained the earlier traditions of Aldus, Baskerville, and Janson. This set contains: The Tempest, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, Merchant of Venice, King Lear, Othello, Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, Antony and Cleopatra, Titus Andronicus, Cymbeline, Pericles, Timon of Athens, Julius Caesar, Troilus and Cressida, Coriolanus, Twelfth Night, Winter's Tale, Merry Wives of Windsor, Measure for Measure, Love's Labour's Lost, Midsummer Night's Dream, Taming of the Shrew, All's Well that Ends Well, As You Like It, King John, Richard II, Richard III, Henry IV Parts I and II, Henry V, Henry VI Part I, II, and III, Henry VIII, Sonnets, and Poems. Signed limitation page at the beginning of the volume containing The Tempest.

Interior generally fine, a couple tiny spots of soiling, light rubbing to extremities. Near-fine condition.