Author: SHAKESPEARIANA. [MAY (Thomas)]
Title: The Reigne of King Henry the Second, Written in Seaven Bookes. By his Majesties Command.
Description: London: Printed by A. M. for Benjamin Fisher, 1633. First edition, small 8vo (150 x 100 mm), [216]pp., engraved portrait frontispiece by R. Vaughan, worm track (affecting several words) to a few leaves diminishing to a single hole, later polished calf by Bedford, rebacked, orig. spine laid-down. "This volume is one of the most important of the books containing contemporary references to Shakespeare. It has the first mention of the Sonnets, as well as the first list of his plays which last is of great importance as providing external evidence of use in determining the dates of plays which were not yet in print. Its perhaps on account of its Shakespearean interest that it is often forgotten that this book has other claims to importance for, besides providing a fund of information regarding Elizabethan taste and knowledge of art and natural history, it alludes to several works which are not now known to have been printed in English at that time..."—Pforzheimer. STC, 17715; Pforzheimer, 686; Grolier, 543.

Keywords: ENGLISH LITERATURE SHAKESPEARE SHAKESPEARIANA KING HENRY THE SECOND