The Works of William Shakespeare in Ten Volumes. London; Printed for J. and R. Tonson. Edited and compiled by Edward Capell and printed in 1768. Undated to title pages, but dated to a colophon at the rear as published.
THE VERY RARE FIRST CAPELL EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE, ONE OF THE HIGHEST POINTS IN EARLY SHAKESPEAREAN SCHOLARSHIP. EXCEPTIONALLY RARE TO FIND COMPLETE IN ALL TEN VOLUMES.
A rare very early edition which is seldom seen in the open market. One of the most famous early sets of Shakespeare, often referred to as the "Capell Edition", this being the first Capell edition of 1768, generally regarded as being the most complete edition of Shakespeare up to this point and a pinnacle in early Shakespearean scholarship alongside the Samuel Johnson edition, to which Capell's notes were later added.
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Containing: The Tempest; The Two Gentlemen of Verona; The Merry Wives of Windsor; Measure for Measure; The Comedy of Errors; Much Ado About Nothing; Love's Labour's Lost; A Midsummer Night's Dream; The Merchant of Venice; As You Like It; The Taming of the Shrew; All's Well That Ends Well; Twelfth-Night, or, What You Will; The Winter's Tale; Macbeth; King John; Richard II.; Henry IV, Part I.; Henry IV, Part II.; Henry V; Henry VI, Part I; Henry VI, Part II.; Henry VI, Part III.; Richard III; Henry VIII; Coriolanus; Julius Caesar; Antony and Cleopatra; Timon of Athens; Titus Andronicus; Troilus and Cressida; Cymbeline; King Lear; Romeo and Juliet; Hamlet; Othello.
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Provenance:
Inscribed "Levin Molly in 52" (?).
Size: 18.5 x 12.5 cm (approx., each)
Condition:
Spines scuffed, lacking small pieces of backstrip, and rubbed prominently on extremities. Most tooled labels present with two lacking and some scuffing, scratching, and cracking to some. All boards attached with cracked or starting joints and hinges. Boards scuffed and scratched. shelf and edge wear. Prominent toning to edges of endpapers and pastedowns. Pen inscriptions on preliminaries. Frontispiece and title page toned and with minor foxing in volume one. Frontispiece transferred onto title page opposite in volume one. Text blocks fairly clean with light toning and minor foxing. Plates transferred onto pages opposite. Very small tear to preliminary in volume two. Uncollated but appears complete.
