SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM.

THE PLAYS OF WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. IN TEN VOLUMES. WITH THE CORRECTIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF VARIOUS COMMENTATORS; TO WHICH ARE ADDED NOTES BY SAMUEL JOHNSON AND GEORGE STEEVENS, THE SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND AUGMENTED.

      C. Bathurst, W. Strahan (and 31 others), London 1778 - TEN VOLUMES. Sprinkled calf. Original red and green spine labels lettered in gilt. All edges sprinkled red. Some peripheral browning of endpapers, Internally crisp and clean throughout. Circular book-plates of Johannes Duroure on pastedowns. Neat ink ownership inscriptions at top of half-title pages, the first dated 1781. This second Johnson-Steevens edition, first published in 1773, was notable for the size of the prefatory matter, or the Prolegomena, expanded to 350 pages, and including for the first time Malone's "Attempt to Ascertain the Order in Which the Plays attributed to Shakespeare were Written". In Volume 1 is a portrait frontispiece, a folded facsimile of his writing, and another portrait of the author. A large folding plate of Morris dancers is found in Volume 5. A handsome, well-preserved set in mellowed contemporary bindings. See Courtney and Smith, p.109 and Jaggard, p.504. [Attributes: Hard Cover]