Shakespeare, William. King Richard ii [and] King Henry vii. Bryce, David & Son. Frederick A. Stokes Co. Glasgow. New York. 1904.

Unique miniature publisher's dummy printed on the finest India paper. The text in this pre-publication dummy is two complete 416 page identical copies of William Shakespeare's Sonnets plus pages 33-128 of a third identical copy all bound in  one binding, one immediately after the other. The contents differ to the title on the  binding that is for the History Plays  King Richard ii [and] King Henry vii. All edges red. Documented provenance: gifted from the publisher David Bryce to his son and daughter-in-law, and then to his grandaughter, then to her great niece. Sold by the last direct family relation of the publisher in October 2025. 35 x 55 mm. Publisher's full limp straight-grained morocco in a yapp-style binding; spine with gilt blocked titling above minuscule binder's decorative motif and the Shakespeare set volume numbers 23, and 24. It was made as a 'demo' to prove that two of the volumes in the 40 volume  Ellen Terry edition of Shakespeare could be bound in one binding; so the usual 40 volumes could become just 20 volumes. Even though the 20 volume format was trialled in this unique example, it was rolled out in very low production numbers and cannot be deemed a successful innovation for the company. The double Shakespeare volumes, two plays bound in one were only used in Shakespeare's Desk and two other Bryce sets, one contained in the Old Oak Chest, and the other in Shakespeare's Courtship Settle.  All three sets with double volumes are extremely scarce. The only other examples of the David Bryce 'demo' or dummy miniature books recorded are a copy of the Qur'an in the National Library of Scotland, and the tiniest of Bryce 's publications, Gray's Elegy from the very same source as this example.