The Text of the First Folio with Quarto variants and a selection of modern readings: edited by Herbert Farjeon
The Works of Shakespeare The Text of the First Folio with Quarto variants and a selection of modern readings: edited by Herbert Farjeon
The Nonesuch Press, 1929.
Seven volumes, number 95 of 1600 sets printed on Pannekoek mould-made paper and bound in publisher's full orange Niger morocco with gilt titles to the spine and borders to covers by Bain. Top edge gilt on the rough, others uncut. A near fine set, with a little variation in colour and occasional spotting to covers, both less than is usually encountered.
The Shakespeare represents the chef d'oeuvre of the Nonesuch Press, and is a model of careful proof reading and imaginative setting. The best of ancient and modern conjectural emendations are unobtrusively set in the margin for the benefit of a glancing eye. This is the finest of all editions of our greatest poet (The Nonesuch Century)
"We turn over to the Nonesuch Shakespeare. There you have created a most marvellous pleasure. I have handled it ever so many times, and read The Tempest right through. It satisfies. It is final, like the Kelmscott Chaucer or the Ashendene Virgil. And it is a book which charms one to read slowly, an art which is almost gone from us in these times. Every word which Shakespeare uses stands out glowing. A really great edition. The tact and grace of your editor have been surpassing. I think I like the size and shape and binding almost as much as the text. The paper, too, is just right. Altogether a triumph. One of the best things is that it can be done again. Nobody will ever dare to produce the old type of edition now, while your text stands there to reproach them. It means a permanent improvement in Shakespeares" (T.E. Lawrence letter to David Garnett).
PROVENANCE: The Library of the W.H. Smith family, Viscounts of Hambleden (no markings).
Stock ID: 31436
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