The Works

6 volumes 4° with 3 portraits, 36 engravings and 5 cul-de-lamps by Gravelot.

Superb binding in contemporary red morocco, gilt lilies, crowns, large arms of Oxford University at the center of covers with lion and lamb, decorated ribbed spine inner gilt, gilt edges, printed at the Clarendon Press, 1770-1771.

310 x 235 mm.

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616). The Works, in six volumes. Adorned with sculptures.

Oxford, Clarendon Press [Thomas Hanmer], 1770-1771.

Lowndes IV 2260. Cohen : « Interesting work by Gravelot while he stayed in London ». With the foreword by Pope and « Some account of the Life of Shakespeare » by Rowe.

An important and scarce six volume set of Shakespeare's works, with fult page illustrations. Volume I also has the Alexander Pope's preface and Rowe's important life of Shakespeare. This is the second edition of Sir Thomas Hamner's Shakespeare, which was originally published in 1743-4. With two portraits of Shakespeare, and eight further plates to volume I, seven plates to volume II, six plates to volume III, five plates to volume IV, six plates to volume V, with five plates to volume VI. With thirty-nine plates total including the frontispiece and second engraved portrait of Shakespeare.

Volume I : The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Measure for Measure, The Comedy of Errors and Much Ado About Nothing.

Volume II : The Merchant of Venice, Love's Labour's Lost, As You Like IT, The Taming of the Shrew, All's Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night, or What you Will, The Winter's Tale

Volume III : King Lear, King John, King Richard II, King Henry IV Part I, King Henry IV Part II, King Henry V.

Volume IV : King Henry IV Part I, King Henry VI Part II, King Henry VI Part III, King Richard III, King Henry VIII.

Volume V : Timon of Athens, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Titus Andronicus, Macbeth

Volume VI : Troilus and Cressida, Cymbeline, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello.

Our copy is precious not only for its stunning binding but also for its very interesting provenance : its bears the satement from the daughter of State Councillor of Coninck in Copenhagen dated 1840 and attested by the seal and signature of the parish priest of the French reformed commune, stating that the copy comes from Queen Caroline-Mathilde du Danemarc.

Caroline Mathilde (1751-75) was mostly famous for her for her relationship with the famous Minister of State Struensee; this young and beautiful adulterous queen whom Wilkins calls “A Queen of Tears” died in exile aged just 24 years has not left any other books to posterity. She was the sister of King George III of England.

Caroline-Mathilde de Grande-Bretagne (1751-1775) was Queen consort of Denmark and Norway from 1766 to 1772.

Born a princess of Great Britain and member of the House of Hanover, Caroline Mathilde is the posthumous daughter of Prince Frederick of Wales and his wife Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. She grew up in London and was raised in a secluded family atmosphere, away from the royal court. At the age of 15, she married a cousin, King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway, aged 17, who, suffering from mental illness, had a cold relationship with his wife throughout their marriage. She has two children: the future Frederick VI and Louise Augusta, whose biological father may be the physician Johann Friedrich Struensee.

In 1769, Struensee enters the service of the king of Denmark. Initially Caroline-Mathilde pays little attention to him, but he quickly knows how to win the heart of the queen and begins a love relationship. Struensee gains more and more power and sets up a series of reforms supported by the queen. Struensee’s reforms and his relationship with Caroline-Mathilde attracted powerful enemies, encouraged by Christian VII’s mother-in-law and queen-mother, Juliane-Marie of Brunswick, and her son, Prince Frederick. Juliane-Marie leads the plot to overthrow the lovers, which results in the execution of Struensee, the divorce of the royal couple and the banishment of Queen Caroline-Mathilde. Separated from her children, she died in Celle, in the electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg, at the age of twenty-three only, suffering from scarlet fever.

A sumptuous copy of Shakespeare printed on large paper and preserved in its contemporary emblazoned binding.

A presentation copy in a very fine binding with the arms of Oxford University.

Provenance : Caroline-Mathilde de Grande-Bretagne (1751-1772) ; Frédéric de Coninck (1740-1811) ; his daughter, Marie Henriette de Coninck, (1774-1843) ; Baron de Rothschild ; Baron Alexis de Rédé (ex-libris).