SHAKESPEARE, William.

£9,750 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Venus and Adonis, First facsimile edition of the Isham sammelband, number 1 of 3 large-paper copies printed on vellum. This limited edition was issued to commemorate the discovery of a remarkable group of Elizabethan publications, which marked "an unprecedented event in the history of Shakespearian bibliography" (Edmonds, p. 609).In 1867, the bookseller Charles Edmonds uncovered, in the library of Sir Charles Isham, a long-lost edition of Shakespeare's first published work, Venus and Adonis: the fifth edition, printed in 1599. It was bound with three other contemporary titles: The Passionate Pilgrime, a verse anthology to which Shakespeare contributed, Epigrammes and Elegies, containing satirical poetry by Sir John Davies, and Certaine of Ovid's Elegies, translated by Christopher Marlowe.A total of 131 copies of this facsimile were printed, including 25 numbered large-paper copies signed by the editor, and 6 copies on vellum (three on large paper, as here).

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