Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, histories & tragedies : published according to the true originall copies.

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Accession number: 
PML 5122
Author: 
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.
Published: 
London : printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed. Blount [at the charges of W. Iaggard, Ed. Blount, I. Smithweeke, and W. Aspley], 1623.
Description: 
[18], 303, [1], 46, 49-100, [2], 69-232, [2], 79-80, [26], 98, [2], 109-156, 257-993 [i.e. 399], [1] pages : 1 portrait (engraving) ; 34 cm
Credit: 
Purchased with the Toovey collection, 1899.
Notes: 

Colophon: Printed at the Charges of W. Jaggard, Ed. Blount, I. Smithweeke, and W. Aspley, 1623.
Editors' dedication signed: Iohn Heminge. Henry Condell.
With an engraved title-page portrait of the author signed: "Martin· Droeshout: sculpsit· London." State 1 has no shadow on the ruff under the hair; state 2 has a shadow.
"The life and death of King Iohn" begins new pagination on leaf a1r; "The tragedy of Coriolanus" begins new pagination on leaf 2a1r.
Title page is an insert.
For details on the printing of this item see Charleton Hinman, "The printing and proof-reading of the First Folio of Shakespeare" (Oxford, 1963).
Entered to Blount and I. Jaggard 8 November [1623] in Stationers' Company register.
Numerous errors in pagination.
PML copy is third issue, with cancelled leaf "gg3" with end of Romeo and Juliet and first page of Troilus and Cressida, along with cancel leaf with the Prologue (recto) to Troilus and reprint of the first page (verso), bound before Coriolanus (see Blayney, p. 24).
PML copy with engraving in state 2. Title page leaf remargined (from another copy?, by Toovey, ca. 1887).

Binding: 
Remboîtage: 17th-century calf over paper boards, with gilt armorial of Robert Sidney, Earl of Leicester. Binding probably supplied by Toovey in the 19th century from a different book. Fore-edge chain and ties missing. Sprinkled edges.
Variant Title: 

Mr. VVilliam Shakespeares comedies, histories, & tragedies

Inscriptions/Markings: 

Watermark: page 124 of Loves Labor Lost. Small crown. Variant 1) over letters "ED".
Watermark: page 124 of Julius Caesar. Small crown. Variant 1) with letters "LLV ".
Watermark: page 252. Small crown. Variant 2) fleur-de-lis in band of crown.
Watermark: page 309 of Julius Caesar. Small crown. Variant 3) with LLV(?) in base of crown.
Watermark: Small coat of arms. [Unknown page.]

Provenance: 
Sir Thomas Sebright (1692-1736), by inheritance to his grandson Sir John Sebright (1767-1846), his sale 6 April 1807; Robert Willis, FRS (1800-1875), his sale, Hodgson's, 8 April 1872, to Hartely for £20.10; Leonard Laurie Hartley (d. 1886), his sale, Puttick & Simpson, part III, 18 April 1887, lot 478 to Toovey (previous provenance from Lee, Census, 1907, p. 7); James Toovey (d. 1893), who added the Sidney armorial binding to the work [Sir Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester (1595-1677), donated to Bodleian Library and later deaccessioned; Sir William Brownlowe (1655?-1702), armorial bookplate, 1698]; Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), purchased with the Toovey collection, 1899.
Department: