The dramatic works of Shakspeare
William Shakespeare, George Steevens, Edmond Malone, William Hamilton (Illustrator), Robert Smirke (Illustrator), William Martin (Printer), Richard Westall (Illustrator), John and Josiah Boydell (Firm) (Bookseller), W. Bulmer and Co (Printer)
Print Book, English, 1802 [i.e. 1803]
Printed by W. Bulmer and Co., Shakspeare Printing Office, for John and Josiah Boydell, and George Nicol, from the types of W. Martin, London, 1802 [i.e. 1803]
tragedies
9 v. : ill., 1. port. (engravings) ; 44 cm (fol.)
5503043
v. 1. Prefaces of Pope and Johnson to the Dramatic works of Shakspeare. Tempest ; Two gentlemen of Verona ; Merry wives of Windsor ; Measure for measure
v. 2. Comedy of errors ; Much ado about nothing ; Love's labour's lost ; Midsummer-night's dream
v. 3. Merchant of Venice ; As you like it ; Taming of the shrew ; All's well that ends well
v. 4. Twelfth-night ; Winter's tale ; Macbeth ; King John
v. 5. King Richard II ; King Henry IV ; King Henry V
v. 6. King Henry VI ; King Richard III
v. 7. King Henry VIII ; Coriolanus ; Julius Caesar ; Antony and Cleopatra
v. 8. Timon of Athens ; Titus Adronicus ; Troilus and Cressida ; Cymbeline
v. 9. King Lear ; Romeo and Juliet ; Hamlet ; Othello
Originally issued in 18 parts in 1791 and 1802 [i.e. 1803?]
The edition is based upon the 1790 Malone and 1793 Steevens editions
Volume title pages, with "volume" designation, are all dated 1802
With a dedication leaf "To the King's most excellent majesty" dated June 4th, 1803, signed John Boydell, Josiah Boydell, and George Nicol; advertisement signed "G.N." in v. 1
Letterpress printed
Plays are paginated separately, have no signatures, and are bound in no designated order
Each play has a colophon reading: From the Shakspeare Press, by W. Bulmer & Co
No table of contents or list of plates is given, but the plates correspond with the list given in "Boydell's Graphic illustrations of the dramatic works of Shakspeare," a separate issue of the plates, except that the latter lacks a variation of the first plate in Richard III (Gloster and the princes) while it has in addition (as frontispiece) "Shakspeare nursed by Tragedy and Comedy, " a portrait of John Boydell, a variation of Juliet's supposed death, and a second plate in Titus Adronicus (Lavinia nursing her young nephew, by T. Kirk)
"Boydell's Graphic illustrations &c." must not be confused with their "Collection of prints, from pictures painted for the purpose of illustrating the dramatic works of Shakspeare," London, 1803, two large folios containing larger plates (100, including the portraits of the King and Queen prefixed, and the two title-vignettes) most of which are entirely different from these smaller plates
Plates, dated 1791-1803, are mainly by R. Smirke, W. Hamilton, R. Westall, F. Wheatley, James Northcote, with a few each by Reynolds, Opie, Stothard, and others. Among the engravers who executed the greatest number of plates are James Parker, Anker Smith, and James Heath