The Birth of Merlin.... 1662. 4^o. _See_ ROWLEY, William.
The Two Noble Kinsmen.... 1634. _See_ BEAUMONT, Francis, and FLETCHER,
John.
Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. Published
according to the True Originall Copies. [Portrait.] _London Printed by
Isaac Iaggard, and Ed. Blount._ 1623. [Colophon] _Printed at the Charges
of W. Iaggard, Ed. Blount, I. Smithweeke and W. Aspley,_ 1623.
F^o. (13 × 8-1/2). *. 1.
Engraved portrait on titlepage, signed Martin Droeshout. Collation:
_A_^6, with titlepage inserted after _A_ 1, 2 leaves unsigned,
A-2B^{6}2C^2a-g^{6}2g^3h-x^4, 2 leaves unsigned, ¶-2¶^6, 1 leaf
signed 3¶, 2a-2f^{6}2g^{2}2G^{6}2h^{6}2k-3b^6, paged (irregularly
and in three portions, beginning respectively on A 1, a 1 and 2a 1,
in the last of which the numbering jumps from 156-257). Verses to
the reader signed B. I. facing title. Titlepage with portrait.
Epistle dedicatory to William Earl of Pembroke and Philip Earl of
Montgomery, signed by Iohn Heminge and Henry Condell. Address to
the readers, signed by the same. Commendatory verses signed Ben:
Ionson and Hugh Holland. Table of contents (which omits 'Troilus
and Cressida'). More commendatory verses signed L. Digges and I. M.
List of the principal actors. The three parts, comedies, histories,
and tragedies, have separate pagination and signatures. 'Troilus
and Cressida' which is inserted at the head of the tragedies, is
unpaged and occupies sigs. ¶-3¶ and the two unsigned leaves
preceding them. The arrangement of the preliminary matter offers
some difficulties. The only leaves signed are the third and fourth,
_A_ 2 and _A_ 3, containing the epistle dedicatory and the address
to the readers. The fifth leaf, containing Jonson's verses,
certainly forms one sheet with _A_ 3; and in the same way the sixth
leaf, containing Holland's verses, certainly forms one sheet with
_A_ 2. It is further highly probable that the seventh leaf,
containing the table of contents, forms one sheet with the verses
signed B. I. _(A_ 1), and that the titlepage is on a single leaf
inserted; also that leaves eight and nine, containing the further
commendatory verses and the list of actors, form one sheet
together. As the present copy shows no trace of ever having been
tampered with, the above arrangement is probably original. It
should however be noted that in the Chatsworth copy the unsigned
sheet here placed after quire _A_ is there bound up in the middle.
This may be the correct arrangement, but the copy is not in its
original state. In the Grylls copy the preliminary matter has been
rearranged. For the irregularities in the making up of the volume
and the variations presented by different copies see Mr. Sidney
Lee's Introduction to the Oxford Facsimile. The first collected
edition of Shakespeare's plays, in which twenty appeared for the
first time.