Shakespeare, William

The Merry Wives of Windsor. London: Printed by Tho. Cotes, 1632

Folio (308 x 216 mm). 39-60pp. E𒆙xpertly 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 collected plays, all printed in the 17th century. The second folio of 1632, like the first folio of𓆏 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.

"The Merry Wives of Windsor" follows Sir John Falstaff in his attempts to seduce Mrs. Page and Mrs. Ford, the wives of two wealthy merchants, in order to gain access to their husbands' wealth. At the same time, three potential suitors vie for the hand of Anne Page, Mrs. Page's daughter. When the wives realize Falstaff sent the both of them identical love letters, they determine to deceive him themselves. Though initially jealous and enraged, Mr. Ford eventually joins the wives in their tricks, which culminate in one fin🙈al humiliation to put an end to Falstaff's deceit.

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. 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