Bell's Edition Of Shakspere. Printed Complete From The Text Of Sam. Johnson And Geo. Steevens, And Revised From The Last Editions. 1785-88. [Complete Set Of Shakespeare In 10 Volumes) Shakspere (William Shakespeare)

Ten volumes, 12mo, complete, various years published of which 6 volumes in 1785, three in 1786 and one in 1788. Presented in (later) wooden case, containing all 36 plays from the First Folio plus the Prolegomena. Published 1785-1788. Original full leather binding, gilt decorated spines with red gilt title label and black gilt volume number, gilt dec board edges. Numerous b&w plates. Each play has two engraved frontispieces (72 in total in the play volumes), one of which for each play shows a prominent actor in character for that play. There are additional plates in the Prolegomena: Shakespeare's monuments in Stratford and Westminster Abbey, his house in Stratford, his portraits, etc. Spines rubbed with minor loss head and foot, 'Prolegomena' label chipped, previous owner's signature to volumes I and IV endpapers otherwise clean, some scuffing and light marks boards, some loss to upper and lower spines, edges rubbed. Very good condition. The contents of the ten volumes are: Vol. I: The Tempest, Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet (1788); Vol. II Julius Caesar, Titus Andronicus, Timon of Athens, Troilus and Cressida (1785); Vol. III: Henry IV parts I and II, Henry V, Henry VI part I (1785); Vol. IV: Henry VI parts II and III, Henry VIII, Cymbeline (1786); Vol. V: Richard II (1786); Vol VI: Othello, Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra, Measure for Measure (1785); Vol. VII: Twelfth Night, Love's Labour's Lost, As You Like It, Comedy of Errors (1785); Vol. VIII: Much Ado About Nothing, Merchant of Venice, Merry Wives of Windsor, Midsummer Night's Dream (1785); Vol IX: Taming of the Shrew, All's Well that Ends Well, The Winter's Tale, Two Gentlemen of Verona (1785); Vol. X: Prologamena (1786). Complete early edition of Shakespeare's plays by the publisher/printer John Bell, from the George Steevens and Samuel Johnson text, with 'Observations' on the plays, numerous illustrations including famous actors, and Prologomena (including the forewords to the First and Second Folios, essays on Shakespeare's life and work, his historical sources, and his will). A nice set, presented in wooden case.