[Fine Bindings] [Zahn, Otto] Beaumont, Francis, and John Fletcher. Fifty Comedies and Tragedies...

London: Printed by J. Macock, for John Martyn, Henry Herringman, Richard Marriot, 1679. Second collected edition. Folio. (x), 578, 557 pp. Illustrated with an engraved frontispiece portrait. Finely bound in full light brown levant, decorated in a black and gilt foliate pattern; all edges gilt; gilt floral dentelles; silk endleaves; by Otto Zahn, for Toof & Co., Memphis; five book-plates on verso of front free endpaper (Frederick William Cosens; Josephine G. Fisher; B.J.D. Irwin; Hy. Brock Hollinshead; "Joan. Xav. Med. Carenzj."); frontispiece mounted on sheet, with loss in top and bottom corners, not affecting image; contemporary ownership signature at top of title-page ("R Belwood"); wear in gutter at front; scattered spotting to text. Pforzheimer 54; Wing B-1582; ESTC R13766

A finely bound copy of the second collected edition of English drama, by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher. First published in 1647 under the title Poems and Ballads, this 1679 edition contains 52 plays, greatly expanded from the first edition, which contained only 35. Notably, this edition contains the first folio printing of The Two Noble Kinsmen, which is attributed jointly to Fletcher and William Shakespeare.

Bound by Otto Zahn, German-born and Memphis-based master bookbinder. Born in Berka, Germany, Zahn learned the bookbinding trade at an early age, and emigrated to Memphis in 1883. Working for binders Toof & Co., he quickly rose to prominence, and his bindings became highly coveted for their elegance and style. At the time of his death in 1928, he had risen to become one of the finest bookbinders in America.

This lot is located in Philadelphia.

[Fine Bindings] [Zahn, Otto] Beaumont, Francis, and John Fletcher. Fifty Comedies and Tragedies...