Shakespeare

Hi EP friends (I'm getting to know some of you personally now, which is like totally cool as previous to the website I didn't know there were others who loved leather-bound books),

I've been wanting to buy a nice set of Shakespeare's works (all 39 including the poetry), but I noticed that Easton only has a few of their titles online.

Can anyone tell me about the difference between this set of red and gold, and the older one that came out with the black bands and more intricate designs? And does the current few titles Easton have mean that they don't sell the remaining titles?

Thanks! Margaret

The volumes in the newer edition of which a few remain are smaller in size than the older edition, and they all contain b&w illustrations by Byam Shaw. They are reproductions of a set originally published in 1902. Spellings have been updated and there is a helpful glossary and a few notes in the back of each volume.

The volumes in the older edition are reproductions of a set originally published by the Limited Editions Club. They contain Shakespeare’s words without modernizing them and contain no notes or glossaries. Illustrations are usually in color and are by a variety of artists.

I own the complete Byam Shaw set and a dozen or so of the older edition. The older edition looks more attractive on a shelf and its reproductions are clearer, but I like Shaw’s glossary and notes.

My advice would be to buy an inexpensive volume from both sets to see which you prefer. It has been several years since EP has published a complete set of Shakespeare’s works.

In addition to those two sets, there is also a 3-volume set (one each for comedies, tragedies, and histories) that used to be a part of the 100 Greatest Books series. It isn't as exciting as the two full sets but it does contain everything, takes up the least space of the three sets, and costs the least.

When the pocket-sized Byam Shaw set came out, I was still hunting for a complete copy of the LEC-derived set and decided to cancel my subscription of the Shaw series. I eventually found the larger LEC-derived set, as well as the compact 3-volume set, but in hindsight I wish I would've kept my subscription to the Byam Shaw set (and kept all three sets) because each has its own advantages. The smaller size is easier to hold, is more portable, and as jroger1 mentioned, the glossary and notes are really handy.

And yes, you are correct. Regarding both the LEC-derived red colored set and the smaller Byan Shaw set, anything EP has for sale of them is new old stock. No reprints have been hinted at. However, unlike a limited DLE, there really isn't anything prohibiting them from printing either series-set again...they probably just need a positive market analysis to convince them to make more.

>3 treereader: Thank you both for this super insightful info!!!! So, EP does not offer the complete Shakespeare set right now, only the 2-3 titles?

Also, does the gilding rub off the older Shakespeare set? And did they come in different variations of red? They all seem to be of different shades.

I was also looking at ebay and found a facsimile edition of the First Folio. Does anyone here have that copy, and can maybe discuss whether it is worth the 2,000 it is going for on ebay?

>4 Gilded_Tomes1:
I haven’t had any issues with the gilding. Both sets were sold on a book-a-month plan, so they were not all printed at the same time. As a result, there are very slight variations in the shade of red and in the brightness of design and lettering, but not enough to bother me.

My three-volume Shakespeare is an Easton Press Deluxe Limited Edition, 800 copies printed. It is a 2014 facsimile of the famous 1858-60 Routledge publication that was edited by chess-master and Shakespearean scholar Howard Staunton, and illustrated by Sir John Gilbert. There are more than 750 illustrations in this collection, as well as marbled end pages and extensive annotation. Besides all of the First Folio plays (and Pericles) it includes, in Volume III, all 154 Sonnets, as well as Shakespeare's non-dramatic narrative poems: Venus & Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece, The Phoenix & The Turtle, The Passionate Pilgrim, and A Lover's Complaint (this last one is traditionally attributed to Shakespeare). Of the co-authored or contested plays, "The Two Noble Kinsmen" and "Edward III" are not included in this set, but "Pericles, Prince of Tyre" is. The contents are as follows:

Volume I: The Two Gentlemen of Verona / Love's Labour's Lost / The Comedy of Errors / Romeo and Juliet / The Taming of the Shrew / King John / A Midsummer Night's Dream / The Merchant of Venice / King Richard the Second / King Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 / The Merry Wives of Windsor / Much Ado About Nothing

Volume II: All's Well That Ends Well / King Henry V / As You Like It / Pericles, Prince of Tyre / Twelfth Night / King Henry VI Parts 1-3 / Timon of Athens / King Richard III / Measure for Measure / King Henry VIII / Cymbeline

Volume III: The Tempest / King Lear / Coriolanus / Winter's Tale / Troilus and Cressida / Hamlet / Julius Caesar / Macbeth / Antony and Cleopatra / Titus Andronicus / Othello / Poems

The set is dark green, 10.2" x 6.75" x 7".

>4 Gilded_Tomes1:

So, I'm going to double-down on the advice I wrote in your Dickens thread:

"As always, the best approach is patience. I was able to snag the black label set not once but twice for somewhere between $1000-1500 within the last 8-10 years. The first set was in OK condition and the second set was in great (and sealed) condition, so I sold off the first one. I know I've seen it in that price range a number of times in more recent history, as well." -Me

...because now that I'm thinking about it, the same story and the same numbers applied to both my Shakespeare and Dickens black labelled sets. The only difference was that the better Dickens set was sealed (and cost a little more), whereas neither Shakespeare set was sealed.

And yes, whatever volumes they have for sale from those sets today are just new old stock. The sets were normally sold as a monthly subscription, to many customers over a number of years, so specific volumes held in stock were rotating in and out of print, so to speak. Each time they murder a series, they're left with whatever was last printed and not purchased as part of someone's subscription.

>6 Betelgeuse:

I forgot about that set. That means there are at least two 3-volume Shakespeare sets. The simple light brown colored one that I have and the deluxe one you've just described.

>1 Gilded_Tomes1: don’t forget the various Shakespeare leather sets by Franklin Library, notably:
1. 3 volume Oxford edition (beautiful editions)
2. 7 volume Great Books of the Western World 25th anniversary edition.
3. 3 volume Franklin editions as part of their Best loved series, the equivalent of the EP 100 Greatest.

Thank you everyone for this insight. I do wish I discovered this forum much earlier. I suppose patience is key here, but secondary market is not getting any cheaper. I do have a collection of Franklin Library editions, but I prefer to buy them sealed in package, especially if I'm going to spend a lot on it.

Also, on the subject of Shakespeare, I looked at both sets of Shakespeare but noticed that there are some plays missing:

1. Pericles, Prince of Tyre
2. The Two Noble Kinsmen
3. Edward III

Do the 3-vol. editions (green and brown) contain these plays? Or is there any other EP edition of Shakespeare's work that includes them? I saw one enormous EP Shakespeare edition, but the cover looks like that of a video game instead of a 16-17th century book.

And for collectors with unlimited budgets, or who only want a few well-chosen plays, there are the Folio Society editions of the Letterpress Shakespeare. Originally priced at around $500 each, many can now be purchased on the secondary market for much less. They have no illustrations or notes or glossaries, which makes them non-starters for me, but they are printed by letterpress for collectors who care about that. The best part is that each one comes with a specially bound companion edition of the Oxford Shakespeare that does have a wealth of commentary. I bought the Hamlet edition and found the companion book to be worth more (to me) than the Letterpress book.

>11 jroger1: I've heard of the Folio Society, but am just not into their books. I find them second rate and a serious downgrade compared to Easton Press. I suppose the exception is their Letterpress Shakespeare, which are fantastic editions, but they're large and most are out of print and need to be bought individually on ebay, which I'm not inclined to do.

>1 Gilded_Tomes1: there is a near mint EP 39 volume set on eBay right now at what seems a reasonable price of $38 per volume.

>10 Gilded_Tomes1: I own the EP standard (brown) 3-volume edition of Shakespeare's plays, and highly recommend them for aesthetic, space, and financial reasons. I was able to purchase them on eBay in mint condition for less than $100. As Treereader said, they are very space efficient. They are based on the 1958 Heritage Press edition, and edited by Peter Alexander, a major scholarly editor of Shakespeare, so the texts are quite trustworthy. (By contrast, the texts of the First Folio facsimile will feel authentic but occasionally include some pretty crazy syntax.) Although packing all the plays into three volumes, this edition is very generous with its font--at least 13-point, I think--and so quite readable. The illustrations, although not copious, are excellent, especially those by Agnes Miller Parker in the tragedies volume (she also did the illustrations for some of the LEC/Heritage Press/Easton Press editions of Thomas Hardy). There is a useful glossary of archaic words in the back of each volume. No notes, but if one really needs help with the verse there are online aids such as Fear No Shakespeare.

Regarding your question about the three plays, the tragedies volume includes Pericles but not The Two Noble Kinsman, which was not really accepted into the Shakespeare canon until the 80s or 90s (Shakespeare probably wrote half the scenes, Fletcher the other half). The histories volume does not include Edward III, although of course there is still disagreement about whether Shakespeare had a hand in that one.

Have said all this in favor of the EP standard edition, if one had $ enough and space, it would be fun to own individual leather-bound copies of the all the plays (at least almost all of them).

>10 Gilded_Tomes1: In the 3-volume EP green DLE that I refer to in comment #6 above, "The Two Noble Kinsmen" and "Edward III" are not included, but "Pericles, Prince of Tyre" is.

>10 Gilded_Tomes1: "I suppose patience is key here, but secondary market is not getting any cheaper. "

It ebbs and flows, though. There will always be a deal to score - even when the average price may be rising, good opportunities will still come along.

>12 Gilded_Tomes1: "I find them second rate and a serious downgrade compared to Easton Press."

Definitely consider reconsidering that stance. FS's baseline approach to any book, standard or limited, involves a complete or holistic design and layout process from the ground up, whereas that's really only true for EP in the case of a select few new commissioned works (e.g., the deluxe illustrated editions). FS style varies more than EP, so it's easier to come across FS titles that are less than pleasing aesthetically, but that's just an individual/personal preference. When considering construction and materials, durability and longevity, however, both companies are on equal footing.

>16 treereader: Everyone has different tastes. I just find Folio's use of modern art very silly looking. I.e. The Phantom of the Opera from Folio has the ugliest illustrations I've ever seen. When compared to the DLE edition by Easton Press, there's no comparison. Same with the LE edition of Folio's Decameron or Les Miserables, with the weird lines. They look bloody hideous to me, but again, it's all up to one's tastes. When compared to the EP DLE's, there is no comparison. But, We all collect what we like, and it's perfectly fine.