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William Shakespeare. The Comedies, Histories & Tragedies of William Shakespeare with The Poems of William Shakespeare (39 Volumes). New York: Limited Editions Club, 1939.

Price: US$1250.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: 39-volume set. Signed by designer Bruce Rogers in the volume 2 of Poems. Each volume illustrated by a different artist, including Frans Masereel, Arthur Rackham, and Stanislaus Ostoja-Chrostowski. Covers show minor wear, tear, rubbing, tanning, and discoloration. Pages are lightly tanned and clean. International customers please contact us before buying due to additional shipping costs.

Seller: Books From California, Simi Valley, CA, U.S.A.

SHAKESPEARE, William. THE PLAYS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: THE COMEDIES, HISTORIES & TRAGEDIES: 37 volumes. Limited Editions Club 1939-1940, New York, 1939.

Price: US$1875.00 + shipping

Description: Thirty-seven folio (8-3/4" x 13") volumes bound in gold-stamped half natural buckram, top edges gilt, with the paper sides, printed in four colors. Edited by Herbert Farjeon, who created the Nonesuch edition text of Shakespeare, to restore the original typographic style and spelling; typography planned and production supervised by Bruce Rogers. Each of the 37 volumes is illustrated by one of the world's leading book artists including Arthur Rackham, Eric Gill, Robert Gibbings, Jean Charlot, and Frans Masereel. Media include wood engravings and lithographs with some hand coloring. An attempt to "produce a text such as Shakespeare himself might have passed for the printer had he personally read the proofs," and surely one of the most beautiful editions, if not the most beautiful edition, of Shakespeare ever produced. Each volume is copy #705 of 1950 copies issued unsigned. Included are the Commentaries for each play, never folded in this case. The covers reproduce a patterned wall painting uncovered under many layers of wallpaper in a room in an old house in Oxford that belonged to John Davenant where Shakespeare spent nights on his annual journey to Warwickshire. When one looks at the outside of one of these books, one probably sees the very design Shakespeare saw waking after a long night of talking and drinking with Davenant who was a vintner. Slight browning to the gutters of some volumes, contents bright and fresh. Spines foxed to varying degrees, some very much so. Overall an attractive set in at least Very Good condition

Seller: Charles Agvent, est. 1987, ABAA, ILAB, Fleetwood, PA, U.S.A.

Shakespeare, William. The Comedies, Histories & Tragedies of William Shakespeare and Poems; 40 volumes. Limited Editions Club 1939-1941, New York, 1939.

Price: US$2880.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: One of 1,950 numbered copies. Includes the 37 plays, the poems in two volumes, and the supplement volume "Shakespeare; A Review and a Preview." Bound in publisher's original quarter cream cloth with illustrated paper boards and spine stamped in gilt. Supplement bound in full grey cloth with spine and cover stamped in red. Top edges gilded. Poems in brown paper-board slipcase. Each volume illustrated by a different artist, including Eric Gill, Edward Wilson, Graham Sutherland, Fritz Eichenberg, Arthur Rackham, Gorden Craig, Robert Gibbings, Franz Masareel, Fritz Kredel, and Valente Angelo. Poems limited to 1,550 numbered copies and signed by designer Bruce Rogers. Light wear to extremities of some volumes. Each volume 8 3/4 x 12 3/4 inches.

Seller: James & Mary Laurie, Booksellers A.B.A.A, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.