"NOW IS THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT": SHAKESPEARE'S RICHARD III, EXTRACTED FROM THE SECOND FOLIO, 1632, SPLENDIDLY BOUND

SHAKESPEARE. The Tragedy of Richard the Third: with the Landing of Earle Richmond, and the Battell at Bosworth Field. [London: Tho. Cotes for Robert Allot, 1632]. Folio (9 by 12-3/4 inches), period-style full black morocco, elaborately gilt-decorated spine and covers, raised bands, red morocco spine label, marbled endpapers; pp. 173-204.

Sixteen original leaves from the rare and important Second Folio, containing the complete text of Shakespeare's historical drama, Richard III. Splendidly bound in elaborately gilt-decorated period-style morocco.

The four folios of Shakespeare are the first four editions of Shakespeare's collected plays. These were the only collected editions printed in the 17th century (a 1619 attempt at a collected edition in quarto form was never completed). The Second Folio, like the First Folio of 1623, contains 36 plays, all the plays that are considered to be wholly or in part by Shakespeare (with the exception of Pericles, which was added to the Third Folio edition of 1663). "The folios are incomparably the most important work in the English language" (W.A. Jackson, Pforzheimer Catalogue).

A new group of investors published the Second Folio collection of Shakespeare's plays, which, with some changes (intentional and otherwise), largely reprinted the First Folio (1623) page for page. It is estimated that no more than 1000 copies of the Second Folio were printed. Leaves s-[u4] contain Richard III. This early historical drama, written circa 1591-92, depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and the short reign of King Richard III, bringing to a conclusion the tetralogy that comprises Henry VI, Parts 1-3, along with this play. "At the climax of the Wars of the Roses, Richard watches his brother ascend the throne of England and confides in the audience—with all the profound bitterness of an outcast born with a hunchback and malformed leg—his intention to seize the crown. Navigating an imposing assemblage of some of Shakespeare's greatest female characters, Richard lusts for power, assuring his own bloody rise and fall" (New York Times). Shakespeare's second-longest play after Hamlet, Richard III is often performed in an abridged or otherwise altered form; this excerpt of course includes the entire text. This popular play was printed separately several times in quarto format before its appearance in the First Folio of 1623 and in this Second Folio of 1632. The facsimile title page exactly reproduces the title page of the Second Folio copy from which this play came. See STC 22274; Jaggard, 496.

Faint, small stain along lower edge, not touching text or border. A splendidly bound volume in fine condition.