Shakespeare's Contemporaries. Beaumont (Francis), Fletcher (...

Hammer

£300

Shakespeare's Contemporaries. Beaumont (Francis), Fletcher (John), & [Shirley (James, editor)], Comedies and Tragedies, Never Printed before, And now published by the Authours (sic) Originall (sic) Copies, first edition of the Beaumont and Fletcher Folio, London: Printed for Humphrey Robinson, [...] and Humphrey Moseley, 1647, facsimile of the original engraved allegorical title-page enclosing a portrait bust, black-ruled double-column plays, signatures collating: A⁴ a-c⁴ d-e² f⁴ g² B-K⁴ L² ²A-S⁴ ³A-U⁴ ³X³ ⁴A-I⁴ ⁵A-R⁴ ⁵S⁶ ⁵T-X⁴ ⁶A-K⁴ ⁶L⁶ ⁷A-C⁴ ⁷D² ⁷E-G⁴ ⁸A-C⁴ ⁸D⁶ ⁸E² &⁸, erroneous pagination: [xxvi], 75, 143, 165, [1], 71, 172, 92, 52, 48pp, of which A1-4 are defective with loss of text, the title (i.e. A1) is repaired and askew, a1-4 with insect losses to lower-right margin - but with no loss of text, ³B3 fore-margin with defective portion affecting some letters with loss, ⁴F1 with tatty lower-right margin and loss of some letters but not sense, ⁵S1 repaired inner-gutter and two vertical losses of text (2.4 & 4.3cm l in the ruled columns), [&⁸] defective lower-right margins with loss of letters and signature notation, otherwise a respectable reading copy, most pages fresh and clean, some expecting toning, soiling and light grime in places, later mid-18th c English calf, blind-rolled and ruled, upper-cover detached, lower-cover split and just holding, chipped and worn, including the spine, gilt-lettered piece in the second-compartment, contemporary 17th c red-stained edges, loosely-inserted invoices from its previous auction appearances: Sotheby & Co., 6th June, 1969, & Bloomsbury Book Auctions, 7th January, 1999, folio (33 x 22cm), [Wing B1581; ESTC R22900; Pforzheimer 53; Greg III,1013; Grolier/English 28]