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FIFTY COMEDIES AND TRAGEDIES.
(London: Printed by J. Macock, for John Martyn, Henry Herringman, Richard Marriot, 1679). 363 x 227 mm. (14 1/4 x 9"). [10], 280, 279-578, 557, [1] pp. (with mis-paginations, but complete). Second Collected Edition (but the First Complete Edition).
HANDSOME BROWN MOROCCO BY OTTO ZAHN FOR TOOF & CO. (signed in gilt on front turn-in), covers with dark brown blind-ruled frame accented with small flowers connected by vines, the frame entwined with long gilt vines and leaves, raised bands, two compartments with gilt lettering and the others with blind stamped flowers and gilt leaves, turn-ins decorated with gilt flower and vines at each corner, brown silk pastedowns and endleaves, all edges gilt. With engraved frontispiece portrait of John Fletcher. Verso of front free endpaper with five bookplates, including those of Josephine H. Fisher; B. J. D. Irwin; Hy. Brock Hollinshead; and Joan. Xav. Med. Carenzj; title page with ink ownership signature of R[oger] Belwood. (See below for all of these.) Wing B-1582; Pforzheimer 54; ESTC R13766. Spine softened to honey brown, a little uneven sunning and a couple inconspicuous spots to covers, but the large and impressive binding with virtually no wear, and extremely attractive; frontispiece backed, somewhat soiled, and with tiny loss to corners (a trivial part of a rule border affected), contents with scattered inconsequential stains, a handful of repairs (one into the text, but with no loss), side margins trimmed close (just touching ruled borders on a few occasions, though top and bottom margins ample), other trivial imperfections, but still quite an appealing copy internally, the leaves quite clean and crackling with freshness when you turn them.
Containing the dramatic works of the most famous and productive of Shakespeare's immediate successors (along with Ben Jonson), this handsomely bound folio comprises the first complete edition of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher's plays. It contains such titles as "The Woman Hater," "A King and No King," and "The Maid's Tragedy," all of which were co-authored by Beaumont and Fletcher, as well plays written separately or as collaborations with other writers, including "The Two Noble Kinsman," believed to have been penned by Fletcher and Shakespeare. In the words of the Rosenbach catalogue (vol. 25, no. 7), the first collected edition of Beaumont and Fletcher's works, published in 1647, was "almost equal in importance in English literature to the First Folio of Shakespeare." The present edition includes all of the works from that first edition and adds 18 plays that had previously been printed separately, and which appear together here for the first time. Beaumont (1584-1616) and Fletcher (1579-1625) began a successful collaboration around 1608, and were noted for their "sensational" tragedy, which Day distinguishes from the Shakespearean in three ways: by an "emphasis upon the theatricality of startling scenes rather than in the overall concept of man's tragic destiny," by a "conscious manipulation of scenes to create diversity and contrast instead of a pervasive tone," and by a "sentimentalization of its chief figures." In short, the two playwrights gave a robust, hearty dramatic banquet. Binder Otto Zahn was born in Berka in Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen in 1856, served an apprenticeship in Arnstedt, then came to the United States, settling in Memphis in 1884. Zahn joined the publishing firm of S. C. Toof as foreman of their bindery and remained there until his death in 1928. Lawrence Thompson notes in "Hand Bookbinding in the United States" that "Zahn was a great admirer of 16th century decorative styles . . . but he cherished an even greater devotion to the floral designs current in the latter part of the 19th century. He used them effectively and tastefully. He was as meticulous with his forwarding as with his finishing, and he believed that truly great bindings could come only from the shop of a man who was equally skilled in both of these basic aspects of the craft. This copy was owned by multiple important collectors, including British wine merchant Frederick William Cosens (1819-89), who amassed an extensive library that variously emphasized Elizabethan works, poetic manuscripts, Dickens, and Spanish literature. Sotheby's sold off his collection in several sales over the course of in November of 1890. Given the death and immigration dates above, our binding would have been among the early examples of Zahn's work in America. Our copy has distinguished provenance from various centuries. The title page inscription is in the distinctive hand of the noted 17th-century barrister and bibliophile Roger Belwood (d. 1694), whose matching signature appears in two books from Sion College (illustrated on line). The present volume appears as lot 126 (page 15) of "Bibliotheca Belwoodiana: or, A Catalogue of the Library of Roger Belwood, of the Middle-Temple, Serjeant at Law, lately Deceased" (Bullard, 1694). This is an extremely early example of a printed catalogue of a single owner’s English library where we can pinpoint the exact lot entry in which a particular surviving copy is detailed. The bookplates on the front pastedown include those of a distinguished group of bibliophiles: the Italian physician and surgeon Giovanni Saverio Carenzi (fl. 1820-40); Josephine Hillock Fisher, wife then widow of the vigorous and better-known collector (as well as prominent surgeon and philanthropist) Otto O. Fisher (1881-1961) of Detroit; the Lancashire solicitor, civil magistrate, and high-ranking Freemason Henry Brock Hollinshead (1819-58), also known for his considerable philanthropy; and Brigadier General Bernard John Dowling Irwin (1830-1917), surgeon, military hero, and recipient in 1894 of the Medal of Honor (actually making him the first recipient of this highest honor in terms of moment of action, earning the award for bravery shown in battle in 1861, before the medal had been authorized). The fifth bookplate at the front is heraldic, with a rampant lion within a collar bearing the motto "SUB ROBORE VIRTUS," and with a Knight's Cross of the Order of Charles III of Spain hanging below. This matches a bookplate in the Auckland War Memorial Museum collection that belonged to a George Allen, but we know nothing further about this additional war hero. (ST20716)
Price: $12,500.00