HANDSOMELY BOUND DRAMATIC WORKS OF JONSON, BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER

JONSON, Ben. The Dramatic Works of Ben Jonson, and Beaumont and Fletcher: The First Printed from the Text, and with the Notes of Peter Whalley; the Latter, from the Text, and with the Notes of the Late George Colman. London: John Stockdale, 1811. Four volumes. Octavo, early 20th-century three-quarter brown morocco gilt, raised bands, marbled boards and endpapers, top edges gilt. $1250.

1811 edition, with engraved frontispiece portraits of Jonson, Beaumont, and Fletcher by Audinet.

This set brings together the dramatic works of Ben Jonson and the playwriting team of Beaumont and Fletcher, giants of English renaissance drama. It has been argued that during the reign of James I, the plays of Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher were more highly valued than Shakespeare’s. Jonson’s plays earned him the title of Poet Laureate, while Beaumont and Fletcher worked the popular vein of romantic tragi-comedy. Among the plays in this set are Jonson’s Volpone and The Alchemist, and Beaumont and Fletcher’s The Maid’s Tragedy and The Knight of the Burning Pestle. Text printed in double columns. Lowndes, 1230.

Light spotting to a few pages, otherwise fine. A beautifully bound set.