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William Shakespeare, (Samuel Johnson, Ed). The Plays of William Shakespeare in Eight Volumes, Volumes VII & VIII. Printed for J & R Tonson, C Corbet, H Woodfall, J Rivington, R Baldwin, L Hawes, Clark and Collins, W Johnston, T Caslon, T Lownds and the Executors of B Dodd, London, 1765.

Price: US$584.80 + shipping

Condition: Fair

Description: Early edition of Samuel Johnson's Shakespeare. Vol VII: Julius Caesar; Antony and Cleopatra; Cymbeline; Troilus and Cressida. 547pp. Vol VIII: Romeo and Juliet; Hamlet, Prince of Denmark; Othello, The Moor of Venice. 473pp plus appendices to all eight volumes to rear. Full calf with gilt lined border, 5 raised bands, black label to spine 'Johnson's Shakespeare' (text only just legible). Marbled endpapers. Red page edges. Boards rubbed to edges and corners. Top board of Vol VIII detached. Top board of Vol VII starting to loosen but holding. Text block appears complete and in good condition although pages a little browned. Title and half-title pages complete in both volumes. Minor foxing to endpapers. OFFERS INVITED FOR ONE OR BOTH VOLUMES, contact seller. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall

Seller: Washburn Books, Pateley Bridge, United Kingdom

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616). The plays : of William Shakespeare, in eight volumes, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added notes by Sam. Johnson. London : printed for J. and R. Tonson, H. Woodfall, J. Rivington, R. Baldwin, L. Hawes [and 7 others in London], 1765.

Price: US$3619.59 + shipping

Description: Tape repair residue to 2 of the titles. Very good copies all in the original, full tree calf. Professionally and period-sympathetically re-backed with contrasting green gilt-blocked labels; very impressively finished. Remains a particularly well-preserved set overall; tight, bright, clean and strong.; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; The second of 2 1765 issues, portrait lacking. Referenced by: English Short Title Catalog, ESTCT138601. Maslen and Lancaster. Bowyer ledgers, 4559. 8 Kg.

Seller: MW Books Ltd., Galway, Ireland

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616). The plays : of William Shakespeare, in eight volumes, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added notes by Sam. Johnson. London : printed for J. and R. Tonson, H. Woodfall, J. Rivington, R. Baldwin, L. Hawes [and 7 others in London], 1765.

Price: US$3910.00 + shipping

Description: Tape repair residue to 2 of the titles. Very good copies all in the original, full tree calf. Professionally and period-sympathetically re-backed with contrasting green gilt-blocked labels; very impressively finished. Remains a particularly well-preserved set overall; tight, bright, clean and strong.; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; The second of 2 1765 issues, portrait lacking. Referenced by: English Short Title Catalog, ESTCT138601. Maslen and Lancaster. Bowyer ledgers, 4559. 8 Kg.

Seller: MW Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.

JOHNSON, SAMUEL. MR. JOHNSON'S PREFACE TO HIS EDITION OF SHAKESPEAR'S PLAYS. Printed for J. and R. Tonson et al., London, 1765.

Price: US$4160.00 + shipping

Description: 218 x 130 mm. (8 1/4 x 5"). 2 p.l., v-lxxii pp. 20th century speckled calf with a simple gilt border by Sangorski & Sutcliffe (with their stamp-signature on the front turn-in), raised bands on spine, red morocco spine title label with gilt lettering, and gilt edges (joints expertly repaired). Flower vase ornament on the title page. Ownership signature of "M. Dawes" on the title page. Courtney & Smith, p. 107; Fleeman 65.10SP/2b; ESTC T-6255. ◆Corners and edges somewhat rubbed, but covers very well preserved, marginal loss to the upper corner of leaf a2, lightly toned throughout, but otherwise a very clean and appealing copy. This is a well-preserved copy of the separate edition of Samuel Johnson's lauded "Preface" to "The Plays of William Shakespeare," complete with the half title. The "Preface" originally accompanied Johnson's eight-volume edition of Shakespeare (also published in 1765), a project that took the good doctor 20 years to complete, partly because of the scope of the undertaking and partly because of his own procrastination. Courtney & Smith notes that "Adam Smith is said to have called it 'the most manly piece of criticism that was ever published in any country.'" Indeed, the "Preface" seems to have been the most highly regarded and influential section of Johnson's entire corpus of work and gave "great impetus to Shakespearian study." It is quite likely that the "Preface" was one of the last sections Johnson delivered to the printer, as suggested by the presence of bracketed signatures in the original printing. That the editors saw fit to publish a separate edition of the "Preface" so close on the heels of "The Plays" speaks to the immediate popularity and acclaim it generated when first appearing as part of the larger work. The half title is not infrequently missing, a fact that in the present case is more than usually significant since it contains the price (one shilling), showing that the work was separately published. It is more than conceivable that the "M. Dawes" who signed the title page was the miscellaneous writer Manasseh Dawes (d. 1829), known in particular for his "Essay on Intellectual Liberty," published in 1780.

Seller: Phillip J. Pirages Rare Books (ABAA), McMinnville, OR, U.S.A.

SHAKESPEARE, William [1564-1616].. The Plays With The Corrections and Illustrations Of Various Commentators; To which are added Notes by Sam. Johnson.. London: Printed for J. and R.Tonson, H.Woodfall, J.Rivington , 1765., 1765.

Price: US$6400.00 + shipping

Description: 8vo. with half-titles in Vols. II-VIII. engraved frontis. portrait of Shakespeare by George Vertue. contemporary calf (1 cover not uniform in design, neatly rebacked (covers partly oxidized, corners worn, library stamp erased from titles & repaired on verso). Second Johnson Edition, with Johnson’s preface paginated and the name of T.Longman appearing in the imprint in Volumes 1-II. Johnson first contemplated a variorum edition of Shakespeare in 1745. When it finally appeared his Preface attracted general admiration. "Adam Smith is said to have called it "the most manly piece of criticism that was ever published in any country". In the Cambridge edition both Preface and notes are described as ‘distinguished by clearness of thought and diction and by masterly common sense’. But, taken as a whole, the edition disappointed the expectations of the subscribers .Johnson’s Preface gave a great impetus to Shakespearian study " (Courtney & Smith) Courtney & Smith pp. 103-08 & Chapman & Hazen pp. 146-47 (noting this as a second issue of the first edition). Jaggard p. 501. Pforzheimer 911g.

Seller: D & E LAKE LTD. (ABAC/ILAB), Toronto, ON, Canada