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The PICTORIAL EDITION of SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS!!
By CHARLES KNIGHT.
Complete in 8-volumes.

This is the FIRST EDITION / FIRST PRINTING of Knight's famous Pictorial Edition!!
Printed in 1839-1843!!
This set is Over 150 YEARS OLD!!

This is a highly important edition of Shakespeare.

This is the First Edition of Charles Knight's celebrated Pictorial Edition of Shakespeare's works, handsomely bound and profusely illustrated with hundreds of full-page and in-text wood-engraved illustrations depicting views, characters in costume and stage settings.

"From 1837 [Knight] had been occupied with what he himself probably regarded as his magnum opus. From the time of his boyish experience he had wished to edit Shakespeare... [the Pictorial Shakespeare was] the first in the country conceived in the right spirit," and no future editor can afford to neglect it." (DNB XI: 246).

First published by Charles Knight and Co. in [1838-]1842, the Pictorial Edition was variously reprinted throughout the rest of the century, with several different Routledge editions appearing in the 1860's alone. Jaggard, 539. Includes Knight's biography of Shakespeare. Jaggard, 522.

Knight succeeded in contextualizing Shakespeare's life as no biographer except Nathan Drake had done, and in dismissing a couple of the more absurd legends surrounding the playwright's early life" (ODNB).

The edition is relatively scarce in its original format, being far more often met with in its 2-volume Imperial folio format of the 1870s.

DNB tells us that this son of a bookseller "by the age of seventeen . . . was a confirmed bibliophile, and a buyer and seller of second-hand books and a collector of rare books. A client gave him an imperfect first folio edition of Shakespeare, which he made complete by printing the missing pages from a facsimile edition."
His love of Shakespeare never left him, and, according to DNB, "his first major project as an author took shape in 1837, when he resolved to produce [the present] pictorial edition of Shakespeare's works. . . . His background reading led to a deep interest in Shakespeare's life and the edition, published between 1838 and 1841 (he published six later editions of the works of Shakespeare), was prefaced with a one-volume biography [the biography was actually printed in 1843, and appears as the last volume in our set].
Knight succeeded in contextualizing Shakespeare's life as no biographer except Nathan Drake had done, and in dismissing a couple of the more absurd legends surrounding the playwright's early life."

Bound in the original gilded cloth binding, featuring elaborate blind-embossing and a large Shakespeareian medallion.
Printed on thick quality paper.
Heavily illustrated.
London, Charles Knight and Company.
The First Edition is not dated on the title pages. The advertisement is dated May 18th, 1839. And, the biography volume has 1843, and advertisement is dated 1843 on the pictorial half-title page, as well.

VERY GOOD, Near MINT condition. Very tightly bound, complete and fully intact. The bindings are very fresh, strong, and the hinges are 100% fully attached. Printed on thick quality paper. Some minor foxing, but fresh, bright, and clean else wise. The comedies volumes have some waviness and minor tide marks that is not visible on the shelf, appears to have been gotten wet at one point but else wise is fully intact. Early inscription dated 1863. This is a gorgeous set.

This would make an excellent gift and/or addition to any fine library.
Antiquarian books make a great investment, are only going up in value, and are sure to increase the aura of any room or office!

We will pack very securely to ensure safe arrival at your doorstep.
All books are individually wrapped and professionally padded.
We double wrap, and will leave plenty of space between this purchase and the walls of the box. We fill this space with plenty of padding to provide additional protection during shipping.

At Merchants Rare Books, LLC, Customer Service is very important. We offer a full refund if the item is not as described. Our goal is complete customer satisfaction.
Please contact us with any questions. We can be contacted by email at [email protected], or by phone at (301) 942-1028.