The Illustrated Library Shakespeare – Past & Present
Currently listing both the Original and the Print On Demand Copies of this sought after Edition of William Shakespeare’s Works
First: The Original 9 Volume Edition published just before the turn of the century, around 1890.
Originally laid out in 3 volumes the pagination in this 9 Division Edition is as the original which is confused even more because the publisher, presumably to produce evenly sized books, stops and starts each of the original volumes in the middle of individual Divisions. Also the end of one Division and the start of the next sometimes happens in the middle of plays. This is also the reason the plates are all mounted at the beginnings of each Division. Internally treated as 4 volumes comprising Comedies, Tragedies, Historical Plays and finally Division IX; Notes, Critical and Explanatory by Samuel Neil.
Superbly Illustrated by 3 of the leading illustrators of the day, John Gilbert, George Cruikshank, R Dudley: 36 Mounted chromolithographed coloured plates bound 4 per Division at beginning of each, monochromatic title plates bound into beginning of each Division (36 in total), plus monochromatic frontis of Shakespeare in Div IX and monochromatic plates of Shakespeare’s House, Ann Hathaway’s Cottage and Stratford on Avon in beginning of Division IX. In addition to this there are a great many engravings throughout the text.
Second: Illustrated Library Shakespeare Midpoint Press 2007
This elegant facsimile edition of Shakespeare’s works includes all the bard’s plays, as well as the complete sonnets and poetry. The great joy of this volume ‘ and what makes it a very special presentation of Shakespeare’s works ‘ is that it includes over sixty superb colour illustrations and hundreds of black and white illustrations scattered throughout the text. The artwork was created by Sir John Gilbert, George Cruikshank and R. Dudley for the original edition. Originally published around the turn of the century 1900 and published in Three Volumes. This book recreates the magnificent original production. Although it has since been published in separate volumes, now the entire masterpiece is gathered together in One Volume for the first time in nearly 120 years.
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