Title: The Handy Volume Shakespeare.
Publisher: Bradbury, Agnew, & Co.
Publication Date: 1890
Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Complete set of 13 volumes in original oak, brass bound case. Each act has a decorated initial. Preface to v. 1 by "Q.D." 8 x 12 cm. Publisher's full ruby morocco binding, spines lettered in gilt (very slight damage to spines of volumes 1, 9 & 10). All edges gilt. Blue silk place-keepers, in original wooden chest (24 x 15 x 10 cm.) with printed paper label ("13 elegantly printed volumes in a case") to interior of lid detailing contents of volumes. Original patinated brass fittings to dome-topped box and "Shakespeare" in brass hand-cut letters across the lid. Box fittings in the Gothic Revival style of Augustus Pugin and George Gilbert Scott (portraying pre-industrial medieval society as a Golden Age). Original brass lock lid section has been slightly damaged (please see pictures), but still closes correctly. Same setting of type as the "handy-volume" editions of Shakespeare published by Bradbury, Evans & Co. beginning 1866. v. 1. Tempest ; Two gentlemen of Verona ; Comedy of errors. v. 2. Merry wives of Windsor ; Measure for measure ; Midsummer night's dream. v. 3. Much ado about nothing ; Twelfth night ; Love's labour's lost. v. 4. As you like it ; Merchant of Venice ; Winter's tale. v. 5. Taming of the shrew ; All's well that ends well ; King John. v. 6. King Richard II ; King Henry IV. v. 7. Henry V ; King Henry VI, part 1-2. v. 8. King Henry VI, part 3 ; King Richard III ; King Henry VIII. v. 9. Julius Caesar ; Antony and Cleopatra ; Troilus and Cressida. v. 10. Othello ; Coriolanus ; Timon of Athens. v. 11. Hamlet ; Romeo and Juliet ; Pericles. v. 12. King Lear ; Cymbeline ; Titus Andronicus. v. 13. Macbeth ; Poems and sonnets. Glossary. Few of these wonderful complete stylised boxed sets survive intact. Seller Inventory # 5185