THE HANDY-VOLUME SHAKESPEARE [In charming contemporary Japanned stand]. Shakespeare, William. Publication Date: 1873. Condition: Very Good

Title: THE HANDY-VOLUME SHAKESPEARE [In charming ...

Publisher: Bradbury, Agnew, & Co., London

Publication Date: 1873

Binding: Hardcover

Book Condition: Very Good

No date. Circa 1873. 12mo. Complete set of 13 volumes. All edges gilt over red. 25 x 18 x 15 cm (Japanned stand measurements). Publisher's full crimson red soft morocco binding, spines lettered & numbered in gilt. Some rubbing to the edges of a few volumes. Short wormhole on hinge of Vol. x  Presented in charming , original, Japanned stand. Lacquered in red with gold and black cranes and exotic flowers in relief hand shellacked, painted and varnished on either end (some slight wear and patination to the ends). Japanning is a type of finish that originated as a European imitation of Asian lacquerwork that, by the 1880s, was an industry in decline due to changes in fashion and taste. Still an elegant way to have displayed the complete 13 volumes of the Bard's works anywhere from the library desktop, to the dressing-table. Bradbury, Agnew & Co., from 1872, at 10 Bouverie Street, was founded in 1872 when Frederick Moule Evans (1832-1902) left Bradbury, Evans and Co., the firm he had jointly managed with William Hardwick Bradbury (1832-1892) since 1865 when their fathers, who had founded the firm in 1830 as Bradbury and Evans, retired. The Agnew art dealer family, into which both W. H. Bradbury and his sister, Edith, had married, had brought new capital into Bradbury, Evans and Co. in 1865. This injection of capital saw William Agnew (1825-1910) and his brothers Thomas (b 1827) and John Henry became partners when Bradbury, Agnew and Co. was founded. The new firm continued to publish Household Words, Once a Week, and Punch but limited their overall publication of titles to just Shakespeare, the Bible, some archaeology and fox-hunting titles and a few others such as Sylviculture , George Du Maurier, & Theophile Gautier. More frequently found in a close fitting cloth or leather slipcase, this original displayed set is a rare survivor. Bookseller Inventory # 5029