Complete Works. [Large revolving bookcase] >>MINIATURE BOOKS<< SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM. Published by David Bryce & Son.: 1904

Title: Complete Works. [Large revolving bookcase] 

Publisher: Glasgow & NY David Bryce and Son.

Publication Date: 1904

Binding: Hardcover

Book Condition: Very Good

Edition: 1st Edition

This is a complete 40-volume miniature book set of Shakespeare's works. Complete with frontispieces and portraits. Edited by J.Talfourd Blair. Dedicated to the actress Ellen Terry and printed in 1904 in Glasgow by David Bryce and Son and published jointly in New York by Frederick A. Stokes Company. Tiny red leather labels to front paste-down endpapers that say "From The Tudor House" Stratford-upon-Avon". The books measure 38 x 55 mm. Original forest green goatskin (some wear to the edges of the spine and the cover edges. Some of the spines show a bit more wear. Four of the books have the small leather label missing from the spine. A couple of the books have front hinges starting to crack or a small crack in the text block, but still holding). Housed in the original dark stained 8-compartment revolving wooden bookcase (four sides with two compartments in each side, each holding 5 books) by Bumpus (minor slight chipping to three corners). It is on a matching small wooden pedestal (possibly non-original) and rotates to imitate a full-size version of such a bookcase. Of the Ellen Terry series, Louis Bondy wrote that these volumes are "Bryce's greatest achievement as a leading promoter of miniature books," and, in particular, he describes the Shakespeare as "the most prodigious of these sets" (Bondy, p.114). Most of the sets were printed in 1904. Included are all the plays, the sonnets, a biographical sketch, and glossary. A beautiful and sought after Shakespeare set that is more commonly found in buckram or ivorine bindings. Bromer, 51. Garbett, 41. Spielmann, 459. Welsh, 6264. American Art Association, 182. This is an uncommon miniature book set, meticulously printed and bound for the David Bryce Company in Glasgow, noted for their miniature book production. Seller Inventory # 5253