The Letterpress Shakespeare - four new plays

Announcing the publication of four new plays in the Letterpress Shakespeare - three magnificent histories, and Shakespeare’s late, bitter tragedy Timon of Athens

The next four volumes in the Letterpress Shakespeare will be published between March and May 2012.

Henry VIII

Edited by Jay L. Hallo under the General Editor Stanley Wells.

She shall be, to the happiness of England,
An aged princess. Many days shall see her,
And yet no day without a deed to crown it

Henry VIII is perhaps most famous as the play which quite literally brought the house down: during one of the early performances in 1613 a special stage effect (the firing of a cannon) set light to the Globe’s thatch and destroyed the theatre.

The play’s pageantry and spectacle made it a thrilling performance piece, although its subject matter was a dangerous choice. Henry’s reign, his marriages, the confused succession and the religious controversy was dynamite politically during both Elizabeth’s and James’ reigns. Shakespeare had to select carefully from the events of Henry’s reign, which were, after all, extremely recent. The result is a fascinating tightrope-walk between diplomacy and drama. The play ends with the birth of Elizabeth I, thus side-stepping the later controversies of Henry’s reign, but Shakespeare does not shy away from Henry’s cruel treatment of Katherine of Aragon, whose heart-rending appeal against her divorce is reproduced almost word for word from the historical record:

I have been to you a true and humble wife,
At all times to your will conformable...

Indeed, there are plenty of moments in the play where Shakespeare sails very close to the wind. An elderly lady in waiting teases Ann Boleyn over her protestations that she could not bear to be a Queen, when a messenger arrives from the King to say she is made Marchioness of Pembroke, ‘By this time / I know your back will bear a duchess. Say, / Are you not stronger than you were?’.

King John

Edited by A. R. Braunmuller under the General Editor Stanley Wells.

Now for the bare-picked bone of majesty
Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest

John succeeds to the throne after the death of his brother Richard the Lionheart, and is at once threatened by rival claimants, including Richard’s bastard son Philip and his nephew Prince Arthur. John kidnaps Arthur and orders his murder; although the boy is released, he dies shortly afterwards in murky circumstances. It is a bleak and ruthless play: a series of wars in which nobles defect from one side to another seem to achieve little. From the Pope to supposedly honourable kings, every character is revealed as having an eye only to his own interests. Patriotism, religion, family loyalty – all are exposed as mere covers for the endless alliances and betrayals of politics and power-brokering.

King John was probably written in 1596, just after the death of Shakespeare’s 11-year-old son, Hamnet. The speech in which Arthur’s mother, Constance, mourns her son is one of the most moving in all Shakespeare’s work, and has often been highlighted by critics as a possible reflection of Shakespeare’s own bereavement:

Grief fills the room up of my absent child,
Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me,
Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words,
Remembers me of all his gracious parts,
Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form.
Then have I reason to be fond of grief?

Timon of Athens

Edited by John Jowett under the General Editor Stanley Wells.

‘Live loathed and long,
Most smiling, smooth, detested parasites’

A wealthy Athenian named Timon is famous for his hospitality and generosity. At his house, hangers-on and supposed friends flock to accept his largesse, while many citizens beg for Timon’s help. Yet Timon’s reckless spending eventually exhausts his resources, and to his astonishment, Timon finds that none of his friends or those who vowed eternal gratitude are prepared to help him in return. Fleeing Athens, Timon takes shelter in a cave and, with a bitter hatred, plots revenge on all mankind.

Timon of Athens is a bleak and sardonic study that strains against the bounds of comedy, and ends in tragedy with Timon’s change from generous, trusting optimist to bitter misanthrope. Almost certainly a collaboration with Thomas Middleton, the play bears the mark of Middleton’s harsh humour. But as Professor Jowett writes in the commentary volume: ‘It encompasses astonishing moments of theatre, scenes of incisive humour, glimpses of unexpected tenderness, and some of the most enthralling, if shocking, dramatic verse that Shakespeare wrote.’

I am Misanthropos, and hate mankind.
For thy part, I do wish thou wert a dog,
That I might love thee something

Richard II

Edited by Anthony B. Dawson & Paul Yachnin under the General Editor Stanley Wells.

This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea |…|
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England

Richard II is arguably the greatest of Shakespeare’s histories, containing some of Shakespeare’s most magnificent poetry, from Gaunt’s paean to England, ‘This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle’ to Richard’s despairing lament ‘For God’s sake, let us sit upon the ground, / And tell sad stories of the death of kings’.

The autocratic Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events when he banishes his cousin Henry Bolingbroke to exile in France. Jealousy over royal favourites leads ambitious noblemen into open rebellion. As he faces the growing threat to his throne and indeed his life, Richard reaches a tragic understanding of power, identity and the nature of kingship. His belief in the Divine Right of kings, though ultimately defeated by Bolingbroke’s pragmatism, is expressed in poetry of such splendour that we are drawn to sympathise with him despite his flaws. The speech in which he accepts his deposition has the intensity of Shakespeare’s greatest tragic heroes:

Down, down I come, like glistering Phaëton,
Wanting the manage of unruly jades.
In the base court? Base court where kings grow base
To come at traitors’ calls and do them grace.
In the base court come down: down court, down king,
For night-owls shriek where mounting larks should sing

Henry VIII will be published in March 2012. Delivery of King John, Timon of Athens and Richard II will follow, with Richard II being delivered in April 2012.

If you are a collector of all the volumes we have published so far in the series, we have reserved your individual limitation number for you.

THE LETTERPRESS SHAKESPEARE

Four new volumes to collect

From the choice of text and meticulously designed pages to the mould-made paper and unsurpassed art of letterpress printing, attention has been lavished on every facet of the reading experience.

The result is a fit and harmonious balance between the internal and external: a volume which is not only a delight to look at and hold, but a joy to read; formed not for mere display, but to satisfy the passion for his language felt by all those who love Shakespeare.

Produced to the highest standards, using only the finest materials and processes, each volume is a work of art in its own right.

Beauty of Typography

The layout of words on a printed page is as much an art as such ancient techniques as Chinese or Arabic calligraphy. Here, the text is designed by eye and set on a manual machine, not a computer. Each letter of type has been created from hot metal in the rarely used 16-point font of 'Monotype' Baskerville, chosen for its clarity and elegance of form. Tiny irregularities testify to the hand-crafted nature of the process, since the shape of each line, the very gap between letters, is adjusted by hand to create the most pleasing overall effect.

Quality You Can Touch

A book is a pleasure of many senses: the feel of it in the hands, even the smell of the leather and ink all contribute to the enjoyment. Running your fingers over the paper, the difference between letterpress and litho printing is instantly discernable. You can feel the indentation where each letter has been impressed into the mould-made paper. This high quality paper is made from cotton rags and wood fibres dried on a cylindrical mould which produces the feathered edge known as the ‘deckle’. The quarter-binding is of finest goatskin leather, dyed to a rich colour. The pattern on the hand-marbled paper sides is unique to each volume.

Creating The Letterpress Shakespeare

The craftsmen and women who work on these volumes are rightly proud of their involvement in the project. From the hand-sewing of the pages to the blocking of each label in 24-carat gold, few books have had such care lavished on them. You can be confident that these exceptional editions will give pleasure for generations to come.

Cotton mixed with pure wood fibres dries slowly on a cylindrical mould to make this specialist paper. When the sheets are removed, the feathered edge at the sides is called the 'deckle'. The high cotton content ensures the paper is stronger and will retain its distinctive quality for generations, which is why artists and galleries choose it for fine art prints and etchings. The pages are folded in sections of eight for a perfectly flat opening to the spine, and only the top edge is trimmed.

Top edge gilding is a traditional finish, protecting books' exposed tops from dust, moisture or atmospheric pollution. The three-quarter binding of finest Nigerian goatskin leather is dyed for an exact match, but the gold and scarlet pattern on the hand-marbled paper sides is unique to each volume, since the exact pattern of droplets can never be repeated.

Each volume is strictly limited in number and many are reserved for existing collectors. Total limitation 1,000. Each copy will be numbered on a limitation page.