LAMB, Charles [& Mary].

Tales from Shakespeare: Designed for the use of young persons.

      London: Printed for Thomas Hodgkins. Embellished with copper-plates. In two volumes. 2 volumes, duodecimo (167 x 100 mm). Late nineteeth-century polished tan calf by Francis Bedford, triple fillet gilt border, two green morocco title lables to each spine, lettered in gilt, spine decoratively gilt, edges in gilt, marbled endpapers. In brown cloth slipcase. 20 engraved illustrations over the two volumes, including frontispieces. Bookplates of George Lillie Craik. Only very minor shelf wear, joints a little tender, interiors extremely bright and fresh, very occasional spotting, an excellent copy. First edition, first impression with the imprint of the printer T. Davison on the verso of p. 235, vol. I, and with the Hanway Street address in the final adverts. The Tales were chiefly the work of Charles's sister Mary Lamb, who had previously written Mrs Leicester's School and edited Poetry for Children for William Godwin's Juvenile Library. Fourteen of the twenty adaptations were by Mary, the rest by Charles. Originally the Tales were to be anonymous but Godwin persuaded the unreluctant Charles to have his name printed on the title-page (St Clair, The Godwins and the Shelleys). The Tales quickly became a favourite and have been in print ever since. The traditional attribution of the plates to Mulready and the engraving to William Blake has long since been accepted as a fallacy. From the library of the Scottish writer and literary critic George Lillie Craik (1798–1866). Ashley III 42; Gumuchian 3614; Muir, English Childrens' Books 102-103.