Shakespeare's poems, 1640.

Shakespeare's poems, 1640.

Poems

London : Alfred Russell Smith, 36 Soho Square, 1885.

[192] p., [1] leaf of plates : port. ; 20 cm (8vo)

"This reproduction is printed letter for letter, line for line, and page for page as near the original as modern type will permit. The portrait has been specially engraved on steel in facsimile of the original in the British museum. The initial letters, head-pieces and cuts on the titles have also been reproduced ... for this edition"--Half-title verso.

With type facsimile of original title page: Poems: vvritten by Wil. Shake-speare. Gent. Printed at London by Tho. Cotes, and are to be sold by Iohn Benson, dwelling in St. Dunstans Church-yard.

"Two hundred and fifty copies are printed on small paper, of which this is number ... ." There are also 25 copies on large paper, 24 cm high, described separately.

Signatures: pi² [star]⁴ A-L⁸ M⁴.

The engraved facsimile portrait of Shakespeare contains eight lines of verse and is lettered: "W.M. sculpsit", i.e. William Marshall.

Title page printed in black with red border.

Publisher's binding is quarter brown leather with blue-green cloth boards, gold spine titling, untrimmed edges.

Contains all but eight of the sonnets, "A lover's complaint", "The passionate pilgrim" (mostly not by Shakespeare), "The phoenix and the turtle" (attributed to Shakespeare), and poems of miscellaneous authors.

With a half-title.

Jaggard, W. Shakespeare bibliography (1971 edition), page 439

Great Britain -- England -- London.

PR2842 1885b-1 Sh.Col.

In publisher's binding as issued: quarter brown leather binding with blue-green cloth boards; untrimmed edges. Bookplate: W.T. Smedley. Copy number '13' of the small paper editions, signed in manuscript: ARSmith.

cs2209