The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare. With Notes, Original and Selected, by Samuel Weller Singer, F.S.A. And a Life of the Poet by Charles Symmons, D.D. [10 volume set each with a Fore-edge Painting]

TEN FORE-EDGE PAINTINGS. 10 volume set, complete as issued. Each volume features an original fore-edge painting featuring a scene from Shakespeare's life and work. Based on a dated previous owner's or bookseller's neat pencil inscription from 1971, the fore-edge paintings date from that year or earlier. The fore-edges depict the following scenes: 1) Shakespeare's birthplace; 2) A Wood Near Athens; 3) Venice; 4) Castle Macbeth; 5) Welsh Castle (Richard II); 6) Kenilworth; 7) The Tower of London; 8) Athens [a view of the Acropolis] 9) The Palatine, Rome; 10) Venice. Bound in full 19th-century brown polished calf, spines with raised bands, covers elaborately tooled in blind, two volumes retain later red leather spine labels, all edges gilt (some rubbing; hinges on volume 1 expertly restored; Volume 5 has some nicks to spine tips and upper joint starting at top). Illustrated with 60 engravings on wood by John Thompson.