Beschreibung:

SHAKESPEARE, William (1564-1616). The Chronicle History of Henry the fift , with his battell fought at Agin Court in France. Together with ancient Pistoll . [London: William Jaggard] for T[homas]. P[avier]., "1608" [1619]. 4° (172 x 128mm). Collation: A-g 4 (A1r title, A1v blank, A2r text, G4 blank). 27 (of 28, without final blank) leaves. Woodcut headpiece and printer's device (McKerrow 283) on title, headpiece on A2r, arabesque ornament at end. (Light finger-soiling, light stains in first 3 leaves.) [ Bound with :] John FLETCHER (1579-1625) and William SHAKESPEARE. The Two Noble Kinsmen . London: Thomas Cotes for John Waterson, 1634. 4° (172 x 115mm). Collation: A 1 (=N2?) B-M 4 N1 (A1r title, A1v prologue in italic, B1r text, N1r epilogue in italic, N1v blank). 46 leaves, prompter's notes printed in margin. Printer's device (McKerrow 283) on title, type-ornament headpiece and ornamental initial. (Shoulder notes and occasional headline shaved.) [ Bound with :] [William SHAKESPEARE, spurious]. A Yorkshire Tragedie . [London: William Jaggard] for T[homs]. P[avier]., 1619. 4° (186 x 139mm). Collation: s2(-, blank), v blank, A1r-D2v text). 15 leaves. Printer's device (McKerrow 283) on title, type-ornament headpiece and ornamental initial. (A few small marginal tears repaired, some light staining and spotting.) 3 works in one volume. 19th-century tan panelled calf, bound for Lord Derby (lightly spotted, lightly rubbed at extremities). Provenance : John Ker, 3rd Duke of Roxburgh (ink stamp on verso of title in last work); Edward King-Tenison, Viscount Kingsborough (sale Dublin, 1 November 1842, lots 84, 83, and 82, purchased by Borne for); Edward Geoffrey, 14th Earl of Derby, Knowsley Hall (his 1842 purchase notes on flyleaf before each work, shelfmark). A FINE VOLUME OF THREE EARLY PLAYS BY, OR ATTRIBUTED TO, SHAKESPEARE. The third, first, and second editions, respectively. Henry V and the spurious Yorkshire Tragedy belong to the Pavier Quartos, a group of 10 plays, by or attributed to, Shakespeare, which were printed by William Jaggard for Thomas Pavier in 1619. Several were published with false dates, as Henry V , dated 1608, which has not been fully explained. Although issued separately, they apparently were to form a set of Shakespeare's plays. This is significant in that it is evidence of a project to issue the plays collectively which pre-dates the publication of the First Folio, also printed by Jaggard. While the textual importance of the Pavier Quartos is slight, their falsified imprints add a curious chapter to Shakespeare studies, and the fact that they were printed in the shop that only four years later printed the First Folio, one of the most important publications in the English language, makes them worthy of detailed study (see, for example, Blayney, "'Compositor B' and the Pavier Quartos," The Library 27, 1972, 179-206. The text of Henry V derives from the first edition of 1600, not the second of 1602. A.S. Cairncross has argued that the First Folio text of Henry V derives from a combination of corrected copies of the 'bad' quartos, namely the second and third editions ('Quarto Copy for Folio Henry V ', Studies in Bibliography , 1956, 67-93). Two Noble Kinsmen is unusual as it includes some of the stage prompts. For this reason, it had been believed that the prompt book itself served as the exemplar from which the present first edition was set. Subsequent research has shown that the text was set from annotated foul papers, including some annotations from the prompter, such as specifications of off-stage noises and music. The printed text almost certainly dates from the play's revival around 1625-6, when Curtis Greville and Thomas Tuckfield were actors in the Company; they are referred to as Curtis and Tucke in the printed text. The bookkeeper of the King's Men at the time was probably Edward Knight, and F.O. Waller has argued that it was probably Knight's annotated copy which was supplied to the publisher f