1442800 1681 Shakespeare. Othello. Quarto.

 

SHAKESPEARE. Othello, The Moor of Venice, A Tragedy, As it hath been divers times acted at the Globe, and at the Black-Friers: And now at the Theater Royal, by His Majesties Servants. London: Printed for W. Weak, 1681. Quarto, modern blue paper wrappers. Housed in custom chemise, half morocco slipcase and half morocco clamshell box.  Fourth quarto edition and "the rarest of the early quarto editions of Othello" (Rosenbach 39:18), this copy hailing from the acclaimed Shakespeare collection of Marsden J. Perry.   Written sometime between 1601-04, Othello "Shakespeare’s grim tale of passion and suspicion both manipulated and untamed, once praised by Macaulay as perhaps the greatest work in the world is the Bard’s most richly human work, and in the Greek sense the most beautiful of them all" (Baugh et al., 536). The quarto editions of Shakespeare, which appeared between 1594-1709, were the first separate printings of Shakespeare’s plays. The seven quarto editions of Othello cleary indicate its immense popularity. Famous bookseller A.S.W. Rosenbach considered this edition the rarest of the early quarto editions of the play; it is far less frequently encountered than the 1687 and 1695 quarto reprints. Since 1975, only three copies of this edition (one the present copy) and two of earlier Othello quartos have appeared at auction. A 1916 census located just 12 copies; in 1996 Pforzheimer upped the census to 20.  The publisher of this edition, "W. Weak" is probably William Leake, who owned the copyright at the time and published the 1655 third quarto edition. Though poet and dramatist John Dryden’s name appears nowhere on the book, Jaggard lists him as this edition’s editor. Jaggard, 422. Wing S2940. Bartlett 106. Bartlett Census, 82-83. Pforzheimer 893. From the collection of celebrated Shakespeare collector Marsden J. Perry, with his early bookplate tipped in. "Perry, who had started life as a farm boy, moved in his late teens to Providence, flourished, and waxed rich there. As his means increased, his consuming passion became the collecting of books by and relating to Shakespeare. In 1897 Perry bought the Shakespearian books, manuscripts and drawings that had been gathered together by the eccentric scholar, editor and collector, James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps At the beginning of the 20th century the Perry Shakespeare collection was the greatest in America" (Rosenbach, 114). Counted among the collection were some of the finest copies of the Shakespeare folios and quartos ever to be held in private hands. Rosenbach handled the sale of the Perry collection during the early 1920s; among his clients was the collector R.W. Martin, whose bookplate is laid into this volume. Presumably this quarto was sold by Rosenbach. Clipped engraving (depicting a crusader on horseback) laid in from an unknown source.  Scattered light foxing. Title page and text block trimmed close at top, with occasional loss to pagination and running-titles; not affecting play text itself. Closed tears to leaves C1 and C2, affecting text. Pinprick hole to G2, affecting one letter of text. A near-fine copy with impressive provenance. Rare and desirable.