Mr. William Shakespear's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies.

fourth folio in contemporary calf

The Fourth Folio, the last of the 17th-century editions, and the most grandly produced. Seven plays were added to the third folio of 1663, of which only Pericles is today recognized as the work of Shakespeare. This fourth folio was a straight reprint of the third, issued by Henry Herringman in conjunction with other booksellers, with three settings of the title-page.

The most immediately striking aspect of the Fourth Folio is its height: Herringman and his co-publishers used a larger paper size to increase the number of lines per page and decrease the bulk of the book. Although this is the only edition in which each play does not start on a fresh page, it is in a larger font and more liberally spaced than the three earlier editions. (The two pages of L1 are set in smaller type, presumably after the discovery that some text had been omitted.) The printer of the Comedies has been identified from the ornaments as Robert Roberts. In common with the Third, the Fourth Folio dropped the final "e" from Shakespeare's name, a spelling that persisted until the beginning of the 19th century. The Fourth Folio remained the favoured edition among collectors until the mid-18th century, when Samuel Johnson and Edward Capell argued for the primacy of the First Folio text.

Fourth edition; folio (38 x 24 cm); engraved portrait, title-page, A4, A-Y6 Z4, [2] B-2Z6 *3A-*3D6 *3E8 3A-4B6 4C2, L1 set in smaller type as usual, a few manuscript corrections to signatures, two ff (2R2, 3*D1) supplied from other copies, one f. (3*D6) in facsimile, occasional spotting and browning, small stain to Epitaph, F1, 3F2, 4B5 each with small holes, H6, 2N, 2T, 3Q5, 3Q6 each with some tears or loss to corners, SF3 with small hole causing minor loss to text (approx. 1 cm), hinges reinforced with tape; contemporary calf, professionally rebacked, corners repaired, contrasting red morocco lettering-piece to spine, a very good example.

ESTC R24524; Wing S2917; Greg III, p.1121; Bartlett 123b; Pforzheimer 911.