"O! FOR A MUSE OF FIRE, THAT WOULD ASCEND THE BRIGHEST HEAVEN OF INVENTION": SHAKESPEARE’S WORKS, FINELY ILLUSTRATED AND HANDSOMELY BOUND
SHAKESPEARE (SULLIVAN, Edmund Joseph, illustrator). The Comedies. WITH: The Tragedies. WITH: The Histories and Poems. London; New York: J.M. Dent; E.P. Dutton, 1925. Octavo, contemporary full red morocco gilt, raised bands, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt.
Early 20th-century edition of the Bard's works, with 39 full-page photogravure illustrations by E.J. Sullivan, "one of the foremost illustrators of his time," in three volumes handsomely bound in full morocco-gilt by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.
"Shakespeare is the Canon. He sets the standard and the limits of literature" (Harold Bloom). Illustrator Edmund Joseph Sullivan was "one of the foremost illustrators of his time, although eclipsed by his contemporaries Rackham and Dulac. He was a superb figure draughtsman, especially in chalks, and had a strong and inventive imagination. Hatrick later said of his colleague 'he could do anything with a pen and do it with distinction'" (Houfe, Dictionary of 19th-Century British Book Illustrators, 318-19). This edition first published in 1911. With a glossary in each volume. Ink gift inscription dated 1931.
A lovely illustrated set in fine condition.