Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. Published according to the true Original Copies. Unto which is added, Seven Plays, Never before Printed in Folio …

London: for H. Herringman, E. Brewster, and R. Bentley, 1685.

The last of the 17th-century editions of Shakespeare's works, and the most grandly produced

(Item #4921) Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. Published according to the true Original Copies. Unto which is added, Seven Plays, Never before Printed in Folio …. William Shakespeare.

Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. Published according to the true Original Copies. Unto which is added, Seven Plays, Never before Printed in Folio …

London: for H. Herringman, E. Brewster, and R. Bentley, 1685. Fourth Folio. Folio (350 x 223 mm). Early 19th-century russia, spine divided in six compartments by five pairs of double raised bands with gilt leaf spray rolls between, wide floral rolls in gilt at head, four compartments lettered in gilt between blind rolls, date in roman numerals in lower compartment over earlier date in Arabic numerals, double silk-sewn endbands, sides panelled in blind, board edges with gilt hatching at corners, turn-ins gilt, leather inner hinges, drab endpapers, gilt and gauffered edges. Housed in a custom red morocco solander box with folding chemise. Engraved portrait by Martin Droeshout above the verses To the Reader on verso of the first leaf, title with fleur-de-lis device (McKerrow 263), double column text within typographical rules, woodcut initials. A few manuscript text corrections, manuscript index of the plays on front blank leaf. Some skilful repair to spine ends and joints, ten leaves (B3, E5, F3, F4, H2, H4, H5, I3, R1, 3S3) with minor paper repairs closing small tears, paper flaws, or extending torn corners, none with any loss of text, three leaves (TT3-5, Henry VIII) apparently supplied from another genuine copy, some scattered spots and minor stains as commonly met with; overall, a very good copy in an impressive binding.

The 1623 first folio was edited by John Heminge (d. 1630) and Henry Condell (d. 1627), and seven plays were added by Philip Chetwin (d. 1680) for the third folio of 1663, of which only one, Pericles, is today recognized as the work of Shakespeare. This fourth folio was a straight reprint of the third, issued by Henry Herringman in conjunction with other booksellers, with three settings of the title-page. In common with the Third, the Fourth Folio dropped the final “e” from Shakespeare's name, a spelling that persisted until the beginning of the 19th century.

The most immediately striking aspect of the Fourth Folio is its height: Herringman and his co-publishers used a larger paper size to increase the number of lines per page and decrease the bulk of the book. Although this is the only edition in which each play does not start on a fresh page, it is in a larger font and more liberally spaced than the three earlier editions. (The two pages of L1 are set in smaller type, presumably after the discovery that some text had been omitted.) The printer of the Comedies has been identified from the ornaments as Robert Roberts.
The Fourth Folio remained the favoured edition among collectors until the mid-18th century, when Samuel Johnson and Edward Capell argued for the primacy of the First Folio text.

Provenance: without mark of ownership, but from the Davenport Library of Robert Walsingham Martin (1871-1961) of New Rochelle, banker, book and manuscript collector, Grolier Club member, sold at auction by Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York City, 12 November 1963, lot 407, with the clipped auction description tipped to the front pastedown.

Bartlett 123; Gregg III, p. 1119; Jaggard p. 497; Pforzheimer 910; Wing S-2915.
(Item #4921)

Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. Published according to the true Original Copies. Unto which is added, Seven Plays, Never before Printed in Folio …
Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. Published according to the true Original Copies. Unto which is added, Seven Plays, Never before Printed in Folio …
Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. Published according to the true Original Copies. Unto which is added, Seven Plays, Never before Printed in Folio …
Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. Published according to the true Original Copies. Unto which is added, Seven Plays, Never before Printed in Folio …
Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. Published according to the true Original Copies. Unto which is added, Seven Plays, Never before Printed in Folio …