The 3rd Variorum Edition

Author : William Shakespeare, Edmond Malone
Publisher:  Rivington etc
Publication Date:  1821

Contents : Vol I Prolegomena : Advertisement by Mr Boswell, i-l, A Biographical Memoir of Edmond Malone, li-lxxi, General Table of Contents, lxxii-lxxvi, Mr Pope's Preface, 2-18, Mr Theobald's Preface, 18-42, Sir Thomas Hanmer's Preface, 43-45, Dr Warburton's Preface, 46-60, Dr Johnson's Preface, 60-108, Mr Steevens's Advertisement, 109-119, Mr Capell's Introduction, 120-171, Mr Steevens's Advertisement, 172-188, Preface to Mr M.Mason's Comments, 189-194, Mr Malone's Preface, 195-252, Advertisement prefixed to Edition 1793, 253-277, Advertisement Prefixed to Edition of 1803, 278-281, Mr Steevens's Advertisement, 282-284, Preface to Mr Richardson's Proposals, 285-299, An Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare, 300-361, Preface to the Second Edition, 362-365, Advertisement Prefixed to the Third Edition, 366, Appendix to Mr Colman's Translation of Terence, 367-370, Ancient Translations from Classic Authors, 371-391, Criticism of Shakespeare, 392-401, Shakespeare, Ford and Jonson, 402-435, Rowe's Life of Shakespeare, 436-469, Poems on Shakespeare, 470-504, Essay on Phraseology and Metre of Shakespeare and his Contemporaries, 505-585. Frontispiece engraving. Vol II Prolegomena The Life of William Shakespeare, 1-525, Appendices: containing legal documents, extracts from the Stationer's Register, a List of Early Editions of Shakespeare, Plays ascribed to Shakespeare, Plays altered from Shakespeare, 526-697. Frontispiece engraving, three further full page engravings and a fold out genealogy. Vol III Mr Malone's History of the Stage, 1-294, Additions from Henslowe's Register, 295-347, Additions by Mr Steevens, 348-359, Appendix from Mr Malone's Papers, 360-409, Further Account of the Stage from Mr Chalmers, 410-524, Mr Markland's Dissertation on the Chester Mysteries, 525. Vols IV-XXI : the Plays and Poems. Copious notes by Steevens, Warburton, Tollet, Reynolds, Henderson, Blackstone, Jennens, Heath, Todd, Tyrwhitt, Boswell, Blakeway, White, Hawkins, Theobald, Mason, Henley, Johnson and Malone. 

Binding : Full leather, 5 raised bands, gilt titles and volume numbers on burgundy and brown leather, gilt greek key decorations, impressed floral patterns to spine, single gilt fillet and impressed border to front and rear boards. Marbled endpapers and page edges. 

Condition : spines professionally rebacked. Some small losses of leather to the boards here and there, minor amount of foxing internally, volume III spine darkened more than the other volumes, otherwise a very good set. 

Malone had previously contributed to Steevens' edition of Johnson's Shakespeare, and was at work on this new octavo edition at the time of his death (1812). He left his material to James Boswell the younger, who produced this edition of 1821, generally known as the Third Variorum edition, in twenty-one volumes. 'Edmond Malone was the greatest early editor of Shakespeare’s works, the first historian of early English drama, the biographer of Shakespeare, Dryden and Reynolds, and a relentless exposer of literary fraud and forgery. His dedication to discovering the facts of literary history through manuscripts and early editions laid the foundations for the scholar’s code and the modern study of literature.' Cambridge Studies in 18th Century English Literature and Thought, No 25: Edmond Malone, Shakespearean Scholar, a Literary Biography.

Price £1600