The Complete Plays of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare, The Complete Plays. London: The Folio Society, 1998. Second printing 1990.Volume I [–VI]. Edited and introduced by Stanley Wells, with editorial assistance from Gary Taylor, John Jowett, William Montgomery and others. 251 × 159 × 36–41 mm. 6 vols (pp. [i–x] xi–xlvii [xlviii–l], [1–2] 3–585 [586–590]; [i–viii], [1–2] 3–657 [658–664]; [i–viii], [1–2] 3–640; [i–viii], [1–2] 3–607 [608]; [i–viii], [1–2] 3–670 [671–672]; [i–viii], [1–2] 3–653 [654–656]). Type: Baskerville with Fournier for display. Typeset by Oxford University Press (the Fournier by Speedspools), printed (with the title-pages in red and black) and bound by the Bath Press. Quarter dark red buckram, paper boards (see below) with a pattern in gold by Anna Murray; cream endleaves. Two slipcases. Once the previous Folio edition of Shakespeare’s plays was complete, Folio could concentrate on producing a new edition, based on a more authoritative text. The text chosen was that edited by Stanley Wells and others for the Oxford University Press and first published in 1986. Each play was prefaced with a brief introduction by Wells, and a wood-engraved frontispiece by a different artist. 

The contents of the six volumes are as follows:

• I Pink paper boards. The text begins with a general introduction, and the plays are: The two gentlemen of Verona (frontispiece by Llewellyn Thomas); The taming of the shrew (frontispiece by Crisfield Chapman); Henry VI parts 2 and 3 (frontispieces by Sue Scullard); The most lamentable Roman tragedy of Titus Andronicus (frontispiece by Frank Martin); and Henry VI part 1 (frontispiece by Sue Scullard).
• II Blue paper boards. The plays are: The tragedy of King Richard III (frontispiece by Peter Reddick); The comedy of errors (frontispiece by Betty Pennell); Love’s labour’s lost (frontispiece by Llewellyn Thomas); A midsummer night’s dream (frontispiece by Peter Forster); The most excellent and lamentable tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (frontispiece by Crisfield Chapman); The tragedy of King Richard II (frontispiece by Hilary Paynter); and The life and death of King John (frontispiece by Anne Jope).
• III Green paper boards. The plays are: The comical history of the merchant of Venice (frontispiece by Harry Brockway); The history of Henry IV (frontispiece by George Tute); The merry wives of Windsor (frontispiece by John Lawrence); Henry IV part 2 (frontispiece by George Tute); Much ado about nothing (frontispiece by Anne Jope); The life of Henry V (frontispiece by Howard Phipps); and The tragedy of Julius Caesar (frontispiece by Raymond Hawthorn). 
• IV Pink paper boards. The plays are: As you like it (frontispiece by Betty Pennell); The tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (frontispiece by Simon Brett); Twelfth night; or What you will (frontispiece by John Lawrence); Troilus and Cressida (frontispiece by Peter Forster); Measure for measure (frontispiece by Crisfield Chapman); and The tragedy of Othello the Moor of Venice (frontispiece by Frank Martin).
• V Blue paper boards. The plays are: All’s well that ends well (frontispiece by Harry Brockway); The life of Timon of Athens (frontispiece by Shirley Mungapen); The history of King Lear, the quarto text (frontispiece by Hilary Paynter); The history of King Lear, the folio text (frontispiece by Peter Reddick); The tragedy of Macbeth (frontispiece by Barbara Crow); The tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra (frontispiece by Simon Brett); and Pericles, Prince of Tyre (frontispiece by Garrick Palmer). 
• VI Green paper boards. The plays are: The tragedy of Coriolanus (frontispiece by Raymond Hawthorn); The winter’s tale (frontispiece by Garrick Palmer); Cymbeline, King of Britain (frontispiece by Sarah van Niekerk); The tempest (frontispiece by Shirley Mungapen); All is true (Henry VIII, frontispiece by Howard Phipps); and The two noble kinsmen (frontispiece by Barbara Crow). The text ends with a ‘Select glossary’.

A worn and very sunned set, with spines and joints significantly discoloured, and edges a little worn, with a few ear marks throughout and a signature in one of the volumes detached (from The Winter's Tale play). Otherwise, a clean and uninscribed set. In the unevenly sunned slipcases that are shelf-worn, dusty and a little grubby.