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Fronts & plates with sl. offsetting, testimonial leaf & final ad. leaf vol. I, 3pp ads vol. II; occasional spotting, expert repair to outer margin of vol. II front. & p.5. Sl. later half burgundy calf, marbled boards, raised bands, spine lettered & ruled in gilt; spines sl. faded. Ink signature of G. Care on front. rectos. a.e.g. A nice copy. See Roff, pp60-67, mentioning a second edition, 1809, and a third edition, 1810. BL, V&A & Oxford only on Copac. Although stated 'Second Edition' on the titlepages, this seems to in fact be a third edition, or a second issue of the second edition. The BL describes this as a 'duplicate of the edition published in 1809', noting the differences in the preliminary leaves. The preliminary leaves in Volume I are indeed slightly different from those of the 1809 'Second Edition'; there is no 2-page Advertisement, and the testimonial from the Critical Review is printed on a separate leaf, rather than on the verso of the titlepage. The rest of the content appears to be the same. The Tales were written for young readers, 'as an introduction to the study of Shakespear', although the needs of 'young ladies' were forefront, as 'boys are generally permitted the use of their fathers' libraries at a much earlier age than girls'. Though her name would not appear on the titlepage until the seventh edition of 1838, Mary was responsible for more than half of the content, contributing fourteen of the twenty Tales, to her brother's six. They jointly wrote the preface. The 20 plates are unsigned, but attributed to William Mulready by the BL. Bentley, vol. II, p279, lists Tales from Shakespear among books 'alleged to have Blake engravings', noting the 'unsigned plates. have been attributed to Blake by various authorities, but. [I] can find no basis for such an attribution'. Roff is less equivocal, stating simply 'the plates were engraved by William Blake from drawings my William Mulready'. Seller Inventory # 93024
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