{"product_id":"1442900-1681-shakespeare","title":"1442900 1681 Shakespeare.  Henry VI Pts. I and II.  Crowne Adaptation.","description":"9861. \u003cdiv align=\"center\"\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHenry VI parts I and II.  \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv align=\"center\"\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCrowne Adaptation.  Quarto.  1681.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv\u003eHenry VI Parts I and II adaptation by John Crowne.  1681.Shakespeare) Crowne, [John].  Henry the Sixth, the First Part.  With the Murder of Humphrey Duke of Glocester.  As it was Acted at the Dukes Theater.  WITH:  Henry the Sixth, the Second Part.  Or the Misery of Civil War, As it was Acted at the Dukes Theater.  London: Printed fro R. Bentley and M. Magnes, 1681.  Two volumes.  Slim quarto, modern three quarter brown calf, raised bands, morocco spine labels, marbled and patterned boards.  The prefaces to the two volumes provide insights into Crowne's thinking about the shortcomings of Shakespeare as playwright and as such offer a rare 17th century of the Bard's earliest writings.  The two parts of Henry VI began Shakespeare's \"first tetraology\" of dramas recounting royal history from Henry VI through Richard III and represent the first treatment of the War of the Roses.  Crowne's (spelled Crown on title pages) adaptations of all three parts are a bit more faithful than some of the other adaptaions of the 17th century (most notably Nahum Tate's version of King Lear which ends happily).  Crowne does not rearrange Shakespeare's material, but his Part I \"follows with considerable fidelity [Shakespeare's Part II], the long speeches being abbreviated\". (Pforzheimer 912).  In Crowne's Part II, \"the first act is from the last part of [Shakespeare's PartII] and the rest is mainly [Shakespeare's Part III]\"  (Pforzheimer 913), albeit with scenes rearranged.  Both Part I and Part II were first published in the First Folio of 1623.  These quarto volumes contain the first separate edition of of any version of Part I and the first edition of Part II.  When jCrowne's version of Part I appeared in 1681, the remaining sheets of Part II were reissued with a canceled title page (as here) and sold together with some copies of the first part of Part I.  Part I bound without the final blank leaf K4.  Jaggard notes that \"no untampered separate edition [of Part I] is chronicled before the 1735 issue of Tonson's.  Jaggard, 342-43.  Wing C7388-89.  Pforzheimer 912-13.  Scattered light foxing to interiors; expected embrowning.  Bindings fine.  A fine handsome copy of this scarce quarto edition.\u003c\/div\u003e  Fine","brand":"1681","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41033784885421,"sku":"9861","price":10500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0284\/7646\/products\/9861.jpg?v=1636224836","url":"https:\/\/www.nrarities.com\/products\/1442900-1681-shakespeare","provider":"The Gillespie Collection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}