Crosby And Nichols 1863 "The Works of Shakespeare" 11 Volume Complete Matching Limited Edition Set

"The Works of Shakespeare" in this handsome 11-volume complete set, first published by Crosby and Nichols in 1863.

William Shakespeare has been widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist.

Boston, MA. (117 Washington St) Crosby And Nichols 1863. "The Works of Shakespeare". Complete in eleven volumes. A handsome set with raised bands, spines gilt. Very appealing rare set with decorative page edges and boards to match. Hardcover books with no dust-jackets as issued. Limited edition collector's set. Black and white illustrations.

"The printing is from a new type cast expressly for this work, stereotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry. Of the material and execution nothing need be said, as this first volume will afford a sufficient specimen of what the whole is to be. The remaining volumes we purpose to issue monthly , or as nearly so as the nature of such an undertatking will admit. The last volume, which will contain the Life of the Poet, is to have a portrait finely engraved on steel." - THE PUBLISHERS. 

"THE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE"

THE TEXT CAREFULLY RESTORED ACCORDING TO THE FIRST EDITIONS ; WITH INTRODUCTIONS, NOTES  ORIGINAL AND SELECTED, AND A LIFE OF THE POET; BY THE REV. H.N. HUDSON, A.M.

Approximate total book shelf space: 16" 

Each book measures approx. 7 3/4" x 5 1/4" x 1 1/2"

Eleven volume set in one shipment: 

1. The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night, or What You Will.

2. Measure for Measure, Much Ado about Nothing, A Midsummer-Night's Dream, Love's Labour's Lost

3. The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, All's Well That Ends Well, The Taming of The Shrew.

4. The Winter's Tale, The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, King John.

5. King Richard II, First Part of King Hentry IV, Second Part of King Henry IV, King Henry V.

6. First Part of King Henry VI, Second Part of King Henry VI, Third Part of King Henry VI.

7. King Richard III, King Henry VIII, Troilus and Cressida.

8. Timon of Athens, Coriolanus, Julius Casesar, Anthony and Cleopatra. 

9. Cymbeline, Titus Andronicus, Pericles, King Lear. 

10. Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello.

11. The Life of Shakespeare, Poems and Sonnets.

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.

Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) such as The Winter's Tale and The Tempest, and collaborated with other playwrights.

Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminges and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".