An exceptional Folio edition celebrating more than 700 years of Dante’s monumental work, The Divine Comedy is illustrated by Neil Packer and includes an exclusive essay by Jhumpa Lahiri.
The Complete Plays
Illustrated by Neil Packer
Introduced by Gregory Doran
Foreword by Dame Judi Dench
Limited to 1,000 hand-numbered sets
Folio’s magnificent limited edition of The Complete Plays of William Shakespeare, celebrating the 400th anniversary of the First Folio, features fabulous artwork by Neil Packer, a foreword by Dame Judi Dench and an introduction by Gregory Doran. Limited to 1,000 hand-numbered sets each signed by the illustrator.
$1,500.00
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‘I have many copies of Shakespeare’s plays in this house but I have NEVER been given anything so special as this one. It is practically my entire life in 3 volumes! Thank you.’
- Dame Judi Dench
On 8 November 1623, the First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays was registered, bringing together the great playwright’s work as a single printed collection for the first time and saving it for centuries to come. 400 years on, Folio is delighted to commemorate the anniversary with a sensational limited edition; a triumph of the bookmakers’ art and a legacy for future generations, which includes a foreword by Dame Judi Dench and an introduction by Gregory Doran, the RSC’s Artistic Director Emeritus. Neil Packer’s designs for the elegant, bespoke bindings are inspired by Elizabethan blackwork embroidery – his artwork perfectly replicated in sumptuous silk and linen jacquard cloth woven by Stephen Walters & Sons, the oldest silk-weaving company in Britain. Packer has also contributed 40 illustrations and designs for the presentation box. The text, set in black and red throughout, was printed by Northend in Sheffield. Smith Settle, also in Yorkshire, renowned for exemplary craftsmanship, have bound the books employing traditional techniques, and, finally, Stan Lane, the last of the famous Monotype artisan printers, has printed the limitation tip on his original Heidelberg press at his studio in Gloucestershire. Signed and numbered by Neil Packer, the tip is in the front of The Comedies.
Three-volume set
Bound in bespoke silk and linen jacquard cloth
Hot metal letterpress-printed limitation tip signed by Neil Packer
1,464 pages in total set in Caslon with a version by Neil Packer as display
Printed in two colours throughout on Munken Pure paper
40 illustrations in total
Gilded on all 3 edges in gunmetal
Cloth-covered presentation box lined with printed Woodstock Betulla paper
Books: 8” × 11½” Box: 7˝ x 8½˝ x 12˝
‘Without the First Folio we would have lost a world of words.’
- Gregory Doran, from his Introduction
Echoing the divisions in the First Folio; the plays are divided between three volumes – The Comedies, The Tragedies and The Histories. Uncluttered by notes, and with a generous setting, the 38 plays are beautifully readable and follow The Arden Shakespeare Third Series Complete Works – the most up-to-date and authoritative versions. Although the First Folio comprised 36 plays, both Pericles and The Two Noble Kinsmen are included for completeness.
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