The Life and Death of King Richard II. First Edition After the Folios

Shakespeare, William

Published by For Jacob Tonson, London, 1709

About this Item

(An extract from the first Rowe edition of 1709, which was issued in 6 volumes), pages 1049-1122, with frontispiece; this frontis illustration is of importance because of the contemporary costumes it illustrates. Tonson's work is: FIRST edition after the folios, FIRST octavo edition, FIRST illustrated edition, FIRST edition to insert act and scene divisions, FIRST manual text, FIRST edition to bear an editor's name, FIRST to add a list of dramatis personae, and FIRST to insert stage directions for actors' entrances and exits. Handsomely bound to style in recent marbled boards with black leather spine. Cream-colored endpapers; occasional browning to text, marginal stain to upper fore-corner of K8; some headlines shaved closely. [Jaggard, p. 497] AN INTERESTING NOTE ABOUT WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Shakespeare retired to his hometown of Stratford in Warwickshire, sometime between 1611 and 1613. At the time of his death in April, 1616, he was known around London as a very good actor and playwright, but his poems and plays had not been written down or marketed by booksellers - after all, the vast majority of citizens then were illiterate. His death notice in the parish registry listed him as "Gentleman" not as poet or playwright. Indeed, even Shakespeare himself had no inkling that future generations would revere him as having produced the greatest literature in the English language. Most of his works might have been lost forever, if his business partners and fellow actors John Heminges and Henry Condell had not collaborated to publish 750 copies of the First Folio in 1620-23. The First Folio of 1623 was sold throughout England and parts of Europe and the Second, Third and Fourth Folios followed in 1632, 1664 and 1685 respectively. Although Shakespeare's reputation was on the rise, by 1750, his work had not yet been generally accepted as great literature, nor had it been recognized that the later Folios had strayed from the urtext, which was assembled by Heminges and Condell. There was no Fifth Folio, nor any reprints of the first four folios. In 1709, the second stage in Shakespeare's literary resurrection began, with the publication of Nicholas Rowe's multivolume octavo edition of the plays. In his dedication, Rowe states: "I have taken some care to redeem [Shakespeare] from the injuries of former impressions. I must not pretend to have restor'd this work to the exactness of the Author's original manuscripts: These are lost, or at least, are gone beyond any inquiry I could make so that there was nothing left, but to compare the several editions, and give the true readings as well as I could from thence." The most recent sale of a First Folio was in October, 2020 - Christie's Auction fetched a price of $10 million. Seller Inventory # 09640

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Life and Death of King Richard II. First...

Publisher: For Jacob Tonson, London

Publication Date: 1709