Shakespeare, William

The Comedy of Errors. London: Printed by Tho. Cotes, 1632

Folio (308𝕴 x 216 mm). 85-100pp. Expertly bound to style in paneled calf, covers tooled꧙ in blind, upper cover gilt lettered.

From Shakespeare's second folio

Shakespeare's famed four folios comprise the first fou🤡r editions of his collected plays, all printed in the 17th century. The second folio of 1632, like the first folio of 1623, contains 36 plays. It is estimated that fewer than 1,000 copies of the second folio were printed and fewer than 200 copies are in existence today.

"A Comedy of Errors" begins with the Syracusan merchant, Egeon, who fathers twin sons with identical names. To act as their servants, Egeon purchases a pair of twins, also bearing the same names. After one son and one servant are lost in a shipwreck, the remaining twins travel to the city of Ephesus only to discove🍷r that the local residents recognize them. Thus ensues a series of hilarious misunderstandings and mistaken identities.

The Shakespeare Folio𝕴s have "an aura of book magic about them. For a bibliophile it is a volume devoutly to be wished for and rarely attained; to a library it is a crowning jewe𒁏l of a collection. Shakespeare, indeed, is a name to conjure with. No lengthy explanations are needed; he is simply the most distinguished author in the English language" (Wolf).

REFERENCE

STC 22274a; Greg III:1113-1116; Jaggard, 496; Pforzheimer 906; Wolf, Legacies of Genuis 36