Cassells Illustrated Shakespeare Plays Shakespeare by Charles Mary Cowden Clarke (2 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Poor. No Jacket. No edition / printing / date stated (c. 1860s-1870s). Poor 4to hardcover in NO dj as issued. Leather boards with tooled decoration around the stamped bust of Shakespeare; gilt added to the stamped bust of the upper board. Hubbed spine with gilt lettering and decorations. Boards are lightly rubbed, the edges and hubs rubbed, and the corners heavily rubbed. Chipping and erosion in the spine tail, cuts in the spine head. Graded as poor primarily because these covers are no longer attached to the contents. All gilt edges are dust stained on top. The decorated ffep through page xxii of the Story of Shakespeare's Life are loose. Included among these loose pages is a false title page for the "Complete Works of Shakespeare from the Original Text" published in 1861 by Johnson, Fry & Company. A few additional leafs in the initial play, The Tempest, are also loose or shaken, and all text pages are age tanned. Still, the contents, xl, 727 pp., appear complete and free of markings. NOT an ex-library copy! **Extra charges will be required for expedited or international orders because of the size and weight of this book.

Leather. Condition: Very Good. H. C. Selous (illustrator). The beautifully illustrated complete Plays of Shakespeare illustrated by Selous and edited by Charles and Mary Cowden Clarke. Volumes I - III, complete. The three volumes are seperated into Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. William Shakespeare, d.1616, was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Charles Cowden Clarke, 1787 1877, and Mary Cowden Clarke, 1809 1898, were English authors and Shakespearian scholars. At first, whilst having published several articles, Charles became a publisher. After the business eventually failed, he took to writing reviews and articles, and later lecturing, especially on Chaucer and Shakespeare. As a lecturer, Charles lasted twenty years, and as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography tells us, "He prepared his lectures meticulously and delivered them with clarity and humour, both stimulating and charming his audiences. He dealt with a wide range of authors and topics, including Shakespeare, English poetry, and European novelists. His recitations from his chosen authors were widely admired and were said to be as accomplished as those given by Dickens." The Cowden Clarke"s had many literary friends, including Keats, Shelley, Coleridge and Leigh Hunt. Mary Cowden Clarke, as well as being a poet, author and Shakespearian scholar, was an actress. She collaborated with her husband on several important Shakespeare texts. Henry Courtney Selous, 1803 - 1890, was an English painter, illustrator and lithographer. He was the son of a Flemish portrait and miniature painter, and a pupil of John Martin who was an important and influential English painter of the 19th century. He entered the Royal Academy in 1818. In half calf binding with gilt lettering. External smart. There is some wear to the extremities, including some rubbing, with some marks and discolouration to the boards. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are generally clean and bright, with the occasional slight spotting, mostly prominent to the first and last few pages. Very Good. book.