SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS 40 VOLUMES, edited by William J. Rolfe

Description: SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS 40 VOLUMES, edited by William J. Rolfe - 1898 [Complete] Shakespeare's Works Forty Volumes edited by William J. Rolfe with engravings New York & London: Harper & Brothers, 1898; New York - Cincinnati - Chicago: American Book Company [ND] Hardback set is overall in VERY GOOD condition. Russet red covers are mostly clean, with blind tooled border and pebble texture. As You Like It has a few ink marks to cover. Boards show some smudges, dimpling to cloth, scuffing, edgewear. Corners are variously bumped, scuffed. Spines have gilt text, some dimmed, with bumped ends. Bindings are strong. Pastedowns and feps have some marks as follow: Twelfth Night, The Winter's Tale: "Marion Xmas 1905" on front fep. A Midsummer-Night's Dream, Hamlet: "Frances C. Woolaver" on front fep. Richard II, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Merry Wives of Windsor, Titus Andronicus, Othello, Coriolanus, Love's Labor Lost: all marked "Henry W. Underhill '01" on front fep. Merchant of Venice, Macbeth: marked "Henry W. Underhill" on front fep, with SOLD stamp from Friends' Academy Locust Hill NY. Frontispieces are engraved illustrations. Illustrations are bright and clear. Interiors are gently age-toned. Inside pages are free of writing and intentional marks. Text block edges have publisher's red ink on all edges. Loss of some color on some edges. See photos. PS2024.1107 5 x 6.75 inches A full set of "Rolfe's Shakespeare," overall in Very Good condition. Each pocket-sized volume includes notes on the text, notes on the story, engraved illustrations, and an index of words and phrases, explained. Volumes measure 5 x 6 3/4 inches. All have russet red covers, pebbled, with blind tooled borders and large gilt titles on the spines. William James Rolfe (1827-1910), Amherst educated and a high school headmaster, prepared this complete edition of Shakespeare for Harper & Brothers – the Friendly Edition (forty volumes, 1870–83; new edition, 1903–07). Rolfe's editions proved to be the best-selling versions in America (during a time of increased use of Shakespeare in high school classrooms), due both to his credentials as a high school administrator and to his use of Bowdlerization of the text in order to remove much of Shakespeare's lewd content. The American Book Company acquired the imprint from Harper & Brothers, and in their sales notices referred to it as the "standard annotated edition of Shakespeare for educational purposes." This is a full set, with all forty volumes, but it is not a single set. All but four of the volumes are American Book Company. Four -- Richard II, Titus Andronicus, Merchant of Venice, and Macbeth -- are Harper & Brothers. Two volumes have an interesting provenance. A Midsummer-Night's Dream and Hamlet are inscribed "Frances C. Woolaver" on the front fep. Frances Woolaver (b. 1879) lived in Princeton NJ. The Hamlet volume has further markings, the imprint left by a paperclip and shadow on blank feps from a possible enclosure. Beneath Frances C. Woolaver's name is penned in "Maurice Evans played Hamlet, McCarther Theater 1939, Frances Mary Brown." This Frances would be Frances Mary Brown Yokana (1926-2018), the daughter of Frances Churchill Woolaver Brown and a lifelong resident of Princeton. Please see photos. More photos available upon request. International first class shipping includes a handling charge to cover insurance. Domestic orders over $250 include a handling charge to cover signature confirmation. #panoplybooks #rarebooks #bookboutique #collectiblebooks #antiquebooks #vintagebooks #bookstore We invite you to view our Shipping & Returns policies, or to contact us with any questions.

Price: 495 USD

Location: Lambertville, New Jersey

End Time: 2025-02-07T22:05:19.000Z

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