The Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare, with the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators; Comprehending A Life of the Poet, and An Enlarged History of the Stage by the Late Edmond Malone. With a New Glossarial Index

London: Printed for F., C., and J. Rivington; T. Egerton; J. Cuthell; Scatcherd and Letterman; Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; Cadell and Davies; Lackington and Co.; J. Booker; Black and Co.; J. Booth; J. Richardson; J.M. Richardson; J. Murray; J. Harding; R.H. Evans; J. Mawman; R. Scholey; T. Earle; J. Bohn; C. Brown; Gray and Son; R. Pheney; Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy; Newman and Co.; Ogles, Duncan, and Co.; T. Hamilton; W. Wood; J. Sheldon; E. Edwards; Whitmore and Fenn; W. Mason; G. and W.B. Whittaker; Simpkin and Marshall; R. Saunders ; Cambridge : J. Deighton and Sons ; York : Wilson and Son ; Edinburgh : Stirling and Slade; Fairbairn and Anderson; and D. Brown [Printed by C. Baldwin, New-bridge street London], � 1821. 21 volumes. 8vo, 212 x 126, pp. [volume 1]: lxxvi, [3] – 585 [586 blank]; [volume 2]: [iv], 697 [698 blank]; volume 3: [iv], [3], 4 – 549 [550 blank], with engraved illustration of the Globe on page 64 and 3 folding leaves inserted between pages 356 and 357; volume 4: [iv], [3] 4 – 483 [484 blank]; volume 5: [iv], [3] 4 – 532; volume 6: [iv], [2] 3 – 521 [522 blank]; volume 7: [iv], [5] – 540; volume 8: [iv], [3] 4 – 456; volume 9: [iv], [3] 4 – 501 [502 blank], with steel-engraved plate printed vertically on page 501; volume 10: [iv], [2] 3 – 493 [494 blank]; volume 11: [iv], [3] 4 – 508; volume 12: [iv], [2] 3 – 432; volume 13: [iv], [2] 3 – 436; volume 14: [iv], [5] 6 – 430; volume 15: [iv], [2] 3 – 434; volume 16: [iv], [3] 4 – 435 436 blank], with folding engraved plate of Morris Dancers between pages 418 and 429; volume 17: [iv], [5] 6 – 482, with printed music in text on page 426 [Henry V]; volume 18: [iv], [3] 4 – 597 [598 blank]; volume 19: [iv], [3] 4 – 502; volume 20: [iv], [7] 8 – 468; volume 21: [iv], [3] 4 – 546 [547 Errata, 548 blank], engraved portrait of Shakespeare as frontispiece in volumes 1 and 2, bound in attractive straight-grain blue morocco, by Dickenson of Cambridge, with his stamp in blind – "Dickenson Binder Cambridge" – on the front cover of volumes 1 and 21, with the arms of Christ's College, Cambridge, in gilt on each cover, within a gilt and blind border, decorative ornaments in each corner, spine gilt with ornaments at top (Lancashire rose, with crown above) and base (portcullis surmounted by crown, for the Houses of Parliament) of spine, with decorations in gilt to fore-edges, all edges gilt; some slight damp-staining of pink end-papers, but a fine set. � The literary career of Edmund Malone (1741 – 1812), who was trained as a barrister and was called to the Irish bar in 1767, was facilitated by an inheritance of £1000 from his uncle. He moved to London permanently in May, 1777, where he renewed his acquaintance with the Shakespearian scholar George Steevens (1736 – 1800). His first Shakespearean endeavour was that of determining, as best he could, the chronology of Shakespeare's plays. In a short period of time, he had embarked on his own edition of Shakespeare, writing to Joseph Warton in November, 1785, "My Shakespeare…hardly leaves me time for eating or sleeping." He enthusiastically embarked on publishing his early results, remarking in Dec ember, 1785, to James Caulfiedl, First Ear of Charlemont (1728 – 1799), that "My edition of Shakespeare takes up all my time at present. I have printed about half my work, but it will be a full year before it will be completed." The edition was published in 1790. Malone died before he could complete the present edition, usually known as "The Malone-Boswell third variorum edition." As the unofficial literary executor of Malone's estate, James Bowell the younger (1778 – 1822) undertook the task of completing this edition. Boswell had plenty of material to work with. As Malone's biographer, Peter Martin writes, "Malone discovered more about Shakespeare's life than anyone before or since…. He also discovered much about Shakespeare's immediate family…. The influence of the edition would extend throughout the nineteenth century and into the modern era of Shakespearean scholarship, which while it has demonstrated that Malone made mistakes, has also confirmed his distinctions as a pioneer not simply in matters Shakespearean but in literary-historical scholarship as a profession." Peter Martin: Edmund Malone. Shakepearean scholar. A literary biography. (Cambridge, 1995).