[SHAKESPEARE, William.] Measure for Measure [extracted from Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, histories, and tragedies. Published according to the true originall copies].

[SHAKESPEARE, William.] Measure for Measure [extracted from Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, histories, and tragedies. Published according to the true originall copies]. [London: Printed by Tho[mas] Cotes, for Robert Allot. 1632.]

Folio in sixes. Modern full brown morocco, covers gilt-ruled to a panel design, spine lettered directly in gilt; pp. 61–84, woodcut initial, head-, and tailpieces; trimmed close at head (occasionally touching running titles and with partial loss of upper ruled border), very light variable staining but generally very clean and crisp.

Second edition, complete, of the ‘problem play’, extracted from the Second Folio.

Generally dated to 1603–4, Measure for Measure explores themes of political authority, justice, and sexual morality. It was first performed by the King’s Men on St Stephen’s Night (26 December) 1604, and first published in the First Folio in 1623. Now classed among William Shakespeare’s ‘problem plays’, it resists clear categorisation, combining elements of comedy and tragedy with moments of dark humour alongside passages of moral and rhetorical gravity.

Published nine years after the First Folio, the Second Folio represents the first attempt to edit Shakespeare’s works, though not systematically. It incorporates nearly 1,700 textual alterations of spelling and punctuation yet is also notable for introducing a significant number of typographical errors. It also features new prefatory material, including the first published poem by John Milton, printed anonymously: ‘An Epitaph on the admirable Dramaticke Poet, W. Shakespeare’.

King Charles I owned a copy of the Second Folio, now preserved at Windsor Castle, which he read during his imprisonment there prior to his trial in 1649. The so-called Perkins Folio, used by John Payne Collier for his forged emendations of Shakespeare’s text, was a copy of the Second Folio. The Second Folio was followed by the Third Folio (1663; reissued 1664) and the Fourth Folio (1685).

ESTC S111472 (Second Folio).

SKU: 2120870