Shakespeare, William

The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight. London: Printed by Tho. Cotes, 1632

Folio (308 x 216 mm)🌞. 205-232pp. Expertly bound to style in paneled calf, covers tooled in blind, upper cover gilt lettered.

From Shakespeare's second folio

Shakespeare's famed four folios comprise the first four editions of his colleꦬcted 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.

"Henꩲry VIII" centers on a confl♍ict between the Duke of Birmingham and an advisor to Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey, whom the Duke accuses of holding too much power over the King, spurring him to take revenge on the duke. While they battle it out, Henry VIII falls in love with another woman and tries to divorce his wife, who has yet to bear him a son.

The Shakespeare Folios 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 jewel of a collection. S🐼hakespeare, indeed, is a name to conjure with. No lengthy explanations are needed; he is simply the most distinguished author in the En𒁏glish language" (Wolf).

REFERENCE

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