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Ben Jonson. The Workes. London: Printed by William Stansby, 1616 [vol. I] ; Richard Meighen, 1640-[1641] [vol. II].... (Total: 2 Items)
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Description
The fine Wilmerding copy
Ben Jonson. The Workes. London: Printed by William
Stansby, 1616 [vol. I] ; Richard Meighen, 1640-[1641] [vol.
II].3 volumes in 2, Folio (277 x 174 mm ). Engraved title by William Hole [Pforzheimer state C] and woodcut title border [McKerrow and Ferguson 224] to "The Poëtaster" in first volume. Early18th-century speckled calf gilt, gilt-lettered morocco lettering pieces on spines.
A FINE COPY OF THE FIRST COLLECTED EDITION, with the following states: Vol. I: General title (Pforzheimer state C); section title to "Every Man Out of his Humour," without compartment and the imprint reading "LONDON, Printed by WILLIAM STANSBY. [rule] M.DC.XVI."; section title to "Cynthia's Revels" reading "LONDON, Printed by W. Stansby. 1616."; section title to "Poëtaster" in compartment, and reads "LONDON, Printed by W. Stansby, for M. Lownes. 1616." The final two pages of "Golden Age Restored" with the two songs after the dance with the ladies headed "Astrea" preceding that headed "Pallas."
The second volume contains the unsold sheets of the three plays published in 1631 ("Bartholomew Fayre", "The Staple of Newes", and "The Divell is an Asse") which were intended as a continuation of the 1616 Workes and reissued here with a general title dated 1640. The masques, plays and miscellaneous works that make up the rest of this volume are known as the Third Volume (edited by Sir Kenelm Digby) and are dated 1640 (except for "The Sad Shepherd", 1641). The end of "Mortimer" reads "Left unfinished," and the end of "A Tale of a Tub" reads "The end" (some copies read "Finis"). The present copy of Vol. II conforms to Pforzheimer (d), containing the three 1631 plays with the general title and parts II-IV.
Bibliographical variations of the Works are very common, and the contents of this small-paper set follow the collations given in Pforzheimer, except for the bound order of the parts in Vols. II and III. The varying arrangement and composition of the parts of Vols. II and III are the result of the fact that some of them were printed as early as 1631. According to the Pforzheimer catalogue, "as first printed, Sig [A] was a blank, there being no general title. In 1640, a number of these 1631 plays still remaining unsold, sheet [A1 and 6] was again passed through the press, this time of Bernard Alsop and Thomas Fawcett, and the general-title...printed on recto [A]. This title refers only to the three plays printed in 1631 and describes them as 'the Second Volume.' However, bound with these three 1631 plays are normally found the three parts containing the masques, plays and miscellany dated 1640 (or 1641) which have no general-title nor any other preliminary matter. The fact that over a period of years the 1631 plays may have been sold as a supplementary volume to the 1616 Workes would easily account for their being described as the second volume quite aside from the explicit statement of the 1640 general-title." The present copy contains all the parts, with the general title printed in 1640.
Condition: Bindings a little worn and scuffed, with some scrapes and scratches to sides; spines slightly wrinkled; recased with later endpapers. Vol. I: Lacking preliminary blank; engraved title soiled with long internal tear discreetly repaired; minor stains to upper margins of D3-6; small hole in fore-margin of F3; some dampstains in lower margins Dd5-6; tear repaired at lower margin of Qq6 just crossing a few lines of text; some pale dampstaining in lower margins of Ggg1-Iii1, causing chip on lower margin of Hhh1-2; occasional rust stains; minor soiling to final leaf verso. Vol. II: General title a bit soiled; occasional rust-stains or -holes (touching letters in a few instances); hole at the center of leaf D3 in "Tale of a Tub" (Vol. III, Part III), with slight loss to a few letters; occasional soiling or minor marginal stains. Overall, a fine copy with earliest titles to first three plays.
References: Greg 3:1070; Grolier, English 17; Pforzheimer 559-560; STC 14751 & 14754.
Provenance: Lucius Wilmerding (his sale, Parke-Bernet, 27-29 November 1950, lot 419); purchased from Seven Gables Bookshop, Inc., New York, 1975. From the William A. Strutz Library.
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Auction Info
2024 June 27 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part I, Rare Books Signature® Auction #6295 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
June, 2024
27th
Thursday
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