SHAKESPEARE, William (1564-1616) – JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784), editor. The Plays. London: J. and R. Tonson, et al., 1765.

First Samuel Johnson edition of Shakespeare’s plays. The occasion of the bicentennial of Shakespeare’s birth attracted new editorial attention to his plays, of which this edition of Samuel Johnson is the most notable example. It is especially noteworthy for its strong (and new) affirmation of the textual primacy of the First Folio of 1623. Johnson wrote in the notes that the First Folio “is equivalent to all others, and the rest only deviate from it by the printer’s negligence.” Chapman and Hazen pp.146-147 (canceled leaves not visible).

Eight volumes, octavo (197 x 115mm). Frontispiece portrait of Shakespeare. Half-titles in vols. 3-8. (Mild toning, several plays with modern pencil x-marks and other small notations.) Modern quarter morocco over marbled boards.