1. Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. Published according to the True Originall Copies. London: Printed by Isaac laggard, and Ed. Blount. 1623. Portrait by Martin Droeshout on title-page. F G.174.1

For the collation of the first four folios, together with the owners, prices, etc. of various copies, see Bohn's Lowndes, Allibone's Dictionary of authors,' "The American Bibliopolist," 1870, and Winsor's "Bibliography of the original quartos and folios." Mr. Barton printed in 1860, privately, a description of this copy, which is the fullest printed record of the condition of a copy ever made.

This copy was bought by Mr. Barton of Thomas Rodd, the London bookseller, in 1845, standing No. 8,127 in his catalogue for that year; and £110 was paid for it. Rodd received it in an old, but not original binding, and was careful, that, while it was in the binder's hands, it should neither be cut nor the ink-marks or other stains removed. It was simply passed through sized water to strengthen the paper.

It has two cancelled leaves in "As you Like It," pp. 203 [193], 194, 203, 194 [204], but the changes are not of textual importance. The genuine leaves from another copy were inserted beside them in binding: "So that the book now presents a singular curiosity," says Rodd, "which, as I believe, exists in no other copy As Lowndes had mentioned a copy belonging to James Baker with the same peculiarity, Mr. Barton, in a note to the printed account of his folio, considers it "not improbable that Mr. Baker's copy and this may be one and the same." The view was, however, set aside when Mr. Lenox printed the collation of his copies the next year, wherein it appears that his copy, bearing date 1622, was the Baker copy, and the same described by Dibdin earlier (without noting the peculiarity of date), as the Lichfield copy, "perfect and genuine, in old calf binding." As this copy is described as possessing the genuine leaves also (which the Barton copy did not have originally), it is, doubtless, the one owned by Mr. Lenox, though this gentleman's collation shows that there are in his copy four other instances of doubling the pages where errors had been made in pagination. R. Grant White had access to the Barton copy during his work on his edition of Shakespeare which is dedicated to Mr. Barton; and he characterizes it as "admirable," in his Preface. Its dimensions are 13 1-10 inches by S 4-10.

2. Same. [Printed by E. and F. Wright, London, 1807.] F G.4020.7; G.4020.9

Mr. Barton, in a note in his catalogue, says that this reprint was edited by F. Douce. The paper has the water-mark Shakespeare, J. Whatman, 1866, 1807, and there are additional sig nature numbers. Upcott says there are three hundred and sixty-eight errors in it (see "Notes and Queries," vii, 1853, p. 47), of which about forty are important (see same, third series, vii, 1865, p. 139).

I

G.4020.9 contains only King John, Richard 11, Henry IV, part 1, 2, Winter's tale, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, bound separately, with the exception of the two parts of Henry Iv, interleaved and with numerous manuscript notes.

3. Same. With corrections, annotations, and illustrations, by John Britton. London: printed for Isaac Jaggard and Ed. Blount. 1623. Reprinted by E. and F. Wright, for Vernor and Hood. 1808. 4 v. Interleaved. Plates. Portraits. F G.4020.8

Contents. 1. Memoirs, commendations, portraits, poems, essays, etc. of, and relating to, Shakespeare. 2. Comedies. 3. Histories. 4. Tragedies.

This is Vernor and Hood's reprint, interleaved, with titlepages printed especially for these volumes, and dated 1808, while the water-mark of the paper with which it is interleaved is 1813. There is a portrait (Stratford bust) on the title-page of vol. I, and vignettes on the other three. The text has been collated chiefly with that of the second folio, and many notes from Dr. Sherwen's MSS. have been added, also 35 different portraits of Shakespeare, engravings of his monuments, portraits of his commentators, scenes in the dramas, costume figures of the actors, etc. Vol. 1 contains a manuscript index to the portraits and illustrations in that volume, together with various prospectuses, title-pages, and notes of Britton's relating to an edition of Shakespeare's works, to be published by him. The illustrations of the plays are mostly taken from the editions of Bell, Cawthorn, and Boydell. In vol. 2, p. 162, is a water-color drawing, Shakespeare as Shylock.

4. Shakespeare. A reprint of his collected works as put forth in 1623. London: printed for L. Booth. 1862-64. 3 v. Illustrated. Portrait. Sm. 4° G.166.1; 4595.6

Contents. 1. The comedies. 1862. 2. The histories. 1863. 3. The tragedies. 1864.

4595.6 is vol. 1, 2 only. Neither of these copies has the promised fac-simile of the original title-page. This reduced typefac-simile of the first folio, begun in 1861, gives the page in a small quarto form. Each part is accompanied by a collation to verify what might be deemed mistakes in the reprint. G.3950.12, no. 2, is the reprint of Pericles found at the end of some copies of this reprint, which was edited by Charles Wright.

5. Shakespeare. The first folio edition of 1623. Reproduced under the immediate supervision of Howard Staunton. From the originals in the libraries of Bridgewater House and the British Museum, by photo-lithography. London: published by Day 2590.8 and son. [1866.] F