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Author: Shakespeare, William
Title: The Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare, With the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators...by the Late Edmond Malone
Place Published: London
Publisher:F.C. and J. Rivington, et al.
Date Published: 1821
Description: 21 volumes. (8vo) 21.8x13.7 cm (8½x5½“), early mottled calf, skillfully rebacked in tan calf with red and black labels lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers. Only printing of the so-called ‘Boswell‘s Malone‘, upon which Colin Franklin comments in “Shakespeare Domesticated“ pp. 130-32. “This variorum edition not only forms a fine summary of the cumulative scholarship on Shakespeare during the 18th century but has time and again been called the foundation of modern Shakespearean scholarship. Some dealer labels at endpapers.James Boswell, the son of Johnson‘s biographer, had a hard task in ordering Malone‘s papers - “I may add“, he states in his 50 page introduction, “that it is not everyone who could have deciphered his notes.“ Along with all of Malone‘s material this set contains three full volumes of scholarly works including the prefaces of all of the major editions of the previous century, more then one life of Shakespeare, Boswell‘s life of Malone, histories of the stage, Shakespeare‘s will, Coat of Arms and other relative documents to the Bard‘s life and extensive notes on and from the modern editions. In addition to all of this material is the extensive and very useful ‘Glossarial Index‘ and an Addenda. No less then 35 publishers joined forces to produce these volumes and it is alone among the variorum editions to include a volume of Poems. Its influence was such that many years later the Sette of Odd Volumes, a renowned bibliophile dining club, limited its membership to 21 stating this in its list of rules; “The Sette of Odd Volumes to consist of twenty one, this being the number of volumes of the variorum Shakespeare of 1821“.“ (Buddenbrooks). Additional shipping charges may apply

Condition varies slightly, generally very good or better.