SHAKESPEARE IN PROVINCIAL BINDING The Dramatic World of Shakspeare, in Six Volumes

‘An undistinguished publication... but attractively printed’ and attractively bound, as it happens. This set was owned for 250 years by the Little family of Newbold Pacey Hall just a few miles from Shakespeare’s birthplace at Stratford upon Avon.

Six volumes bound in half calf with vellum tips, two morocco spine labels to each volume which give the title of every play; a mixture of green and black in colour, complementing the red upper labels. A little chipping to the leather at the head of the spines of these volumes but a very good set overall, robustly bound. Printed notes by Joseph Rann, Vicar of Holy Trinity in Coventry, a pleasingly local editor to the books’ longterm owners, the Little family of Newbold Pacey Hall, about ten miles from Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford upon Avon and a similar distance to Coventry.

The Little family lived in the house from the mid eighteenth century, acquiring a varied library along the way including several Shakespeare editions. The collection was dispersed at auction during Covid lockdown. In Shakespeare in Print, Andrew Murphy describes the set as: ‘an undistinguished publication from a scholarly point of view, but attractively printed. Joseph Rann (1733-1811), who was from Birmingham, was educated at Trinity College Oxford, and became vicar of Holy Trinity Coventry, a benefice he held for almost forty years.’ We endorse the appealingness of the publication.