A FINE AND “TRUE” EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE’S WORKS: FAMOUS LIMITED SHAKESPEARE HEAD SHAKESPEARE, HANDSOMELY PRINTED AND BEAUTIFULLY BOUND
SHAKESPEARE. The Works. Stratford-on-Avon: Shakespeare Head Press, 1904-07. Ten volumes. Royal octavo, modern three-quarter red morocco gilt, raised bands, marbled boards and endpapers, top edges gilt, uncut.
Fine limited private-press edition, number 123 of 1000 copies, the first production from the press founded solely for the purpose of publishing the “true” Shakespeare, handsomely bound by Bayntun-Riviere.
Elizabethan scholar A.H. Bullen established the Shakespeare Head Press at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1904. His primary aim was to produce a fine and true edition of Shakespeare’s works, which he completed three years later. After his death in 1927, the press was acquired by a partnership that included Oxford bookseller Basil Blackwell. Blackwell appointed one of England’s most distinguished typographers Bernard Newdigate, and under his direction the press became an important influence on the quality of book arts during the first half of the 20th century. Editorially, from Alexander Pope to Robert Bridges, excuses had been made for “those rough edges of Shakespeare which didn’t fit the mould their minds made, of the artist in flawless taste” (Colin Franklin). Bullen attempted to print the text that Shakespeare wrote, even if parts might be considered risqué. With photogravure frontispiece portraits in each volume and historical essay on Shakespeare portraits in Volume X.
A fine copy of an altogether impressive production.