The Library of Stephen J. Farber

Folio (305 x 197 mm). Comprising 46 pages (185-230) on 23 leaves (Q3-V1), most with crown watermarks; opening to All's Well that Ends Well on V1r. Woodcut head- and tail-pieces, opening initials. (Corner tear with loss to R1 partially affecting several letters, a few marginal tears repaired, marginal tears to T3-T4 affecting some letters and border, V1 appears to be from a Second Folio and bears a different watermark, light scattered stains or soiling.) Modern quarter calf, marbled boards.

FIRST PRINTINGS OF TWO COMPLETE PLAYS FROM SHAKESPEARE'S FIRST FOLIO, BOTH PRINTED HERE FOR THE FIRST TIME.

The Taming of the Shrew, one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, centers on the courtship and marriage of the sharp-tongued Katherina and the determined Petruchio. Set in Padua, the play unfolds alongside a secondary plot involving Katherina’s younger sister Bianca, whose numerous suitors must wait until the elder sister is married. Petruchio agrees to the match and sets about “taming” Katherina through a series of calculated reversals—exaggerated behavior, feigned eccentricity, and deliberate contradictions—until she ultimately conforms to the expectations of marriage.

As You Like It remains one of the most beloved and most performed plays, and includes the famous speech by the melancholy Jacques, "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts...." The play follows the banished heroine Rosalind, who disguises herself as the young man “Ganymede” while fleeing to the Forest of Arden with her cousin Celia. There she encounters Orlando, the object of her affection, along with a variety of exiles, shepherds, and courtly figures whose intertwined romances unfold in the freedom of the countryside. cf. STC 22273; Greg III pp.1109-1112; Pforzheimer 905.