Dickens (Charles).- Shakespeare (William) The Plays and Poems, vol.XVI only, comprising The Life and Death of King Richard II and First Part of King Henry IV, folding engraved plate, from the library of Charles Dickens, with his bookplate and with the further bookplate "From the Library of Charles Dickens, Gadshill Place, June, 1870" on front pastedown, bookplate of James W. Alexander on rear pastedown, contemporary red half morocco over marbled boards, rebacked, a little rubbed, 8vo, 1821.*** A superb association copy, bringing together two titans of English Literature. As Paul Schlicke notes in his essay Dickens and Shakespeare (where this 1821 Shakespeare edition is cited), “Dickens’s engagement with Shakespeare was lifelong.” He numbered leading Shakespeare scholars, critics and actors among his friends, and he owned multiple copies of Shakespeare’s works, including the present, which originally was part of a 21-volume set Dickens purchased in 1841. Though the entirety of this 1821 set is no longer extant, this particular volume very remarkably connects Shakespeare and Dickens, insofar as the Henriad trilogy (of which this work forms part) begins with Falstaff commiting a robbery at Gads Hill – the very site of Dickens’s home and library.