Thomas Otway; Montague Summers (ed).
The Complete Works of Thomas Otway
London, The Nonesuch Press, 1926. First edition. Cloth. A limited edition set of 'The Complete Works of Thomas Otway' edited by Montague Summers and complete in three volumes. First thus, the first Nonesuch edition of these works. Each volume contains the following works: Volume One: 'Alcibiades', 'Don Carlos', 'Titus and Berenice', 'The Cheats of Scapin&apos. Volume Two: 'Friendship in Fashion', 'The History and Fall of Caius Marius', 'The Orphan', 'The Souldiers Fortune&apos. Volume Three: 'Venice Preserv'd', 'The Atheist', 'Poems', 'Love-Letters&apos. This set was compiled and edited with an introduction by Augustus Montague Summers, an English author and clergyman. Renowned for his scholarly work on seventeenth century English drama, Summers edited numerous 'Complete Works' of many different renowned authors, poets and dramatists; including Thomas Shadwell, Aphra Behn, William Wycherley and in this text, Thomas Otway. Thomas Otway was an English Poet and Dramatist renowned as one of the forerunners of sentimental drama. Indeed, his tragedies such as his most famous work 'Venice Preserved', were lauded for their convincing portrayal of a range of human emotions, treated with psychological credibility and powerful expression. Beyond his tragedies, Otway is also remembered for his ardent love of the well-known actress Elizabeth Barry, who served as a muse for many of his works. Included within this text are the six love-letters sent from the lovelorn Otway, expressing his love and devotion for the actress which unfortunately was unrequited. This edition was printed and made in England for the Nonesuch Press. Its printing was limited to 1250 sets of three volumes on machine-made paper (numbered 91 to 1340), and 90 sets on English hand-made paper (numbered 1 to 90). This copy is number 590. The Nonesuch Press specialised in limited edition and private press. They were founded by Francis Meynell, his second wife Vera Mendel and their friend David Garnett. Their aspiration was for their publications to be aligned with the same aesthetic standards as the private press movement. They were unusual as they used a small Albion press to design the books, but had them printed by commercial printers. In doing so, books with the quality of a fine-press were produced, but available to a wider audience at lower prices. In a uniform quarter cloth binding with paper-covered boards. Externally, generally smart. Very slightly bumped to head and tail of spines. Slightly bumped to extremities. Bumped and rubbed to upper extremity of front board, volume three resulting in slight creasing and loss to paper board. Slight sunning to spine labels. Faint handling marks to boards, more severe to front board volume three. Small rubbed section to spine, volume two and three. Blind stamp, 'Holland' to front board, upper extremity volume three. Offsetting to free-endpapers, all volumes. Internally, firmly bound. Pages bright and clean with the odd spot to first and last few pages. Pages slightly age toned to edges. Several pages to rear of volume three uncut. Prior owner's pencil inscription to lower gutter of front free endpapers, volume one and two: 'V.J. A. Flynn, Oxford, 1998' Near Fine . Ill.: None. Near Fine .
Rooke Books
Professional sellerBook number: 612M1
GBP 240.00 [Appr.: EURO 279.75 US$ 304.37 | JP¥ 46957]
Keywords: Otway Limited Edition Summers Nonesuch Limited Edition Flynn None