6 volumes, 4to (279 x 216 mm). General title-page for the set (printed in red and black, dated 1725), individual titles in other volumes dated 1723, with one (of 2) engraved portraits of Shakespeare (often missing). (Scattered spotting, occasional browning.) Contemporary speckled calf, borders twice ruled in gilt (re-backed preserving original spine laid down, retaining gilt lettering-pieces, few covers darkened and fore-corners rubbed). Provenance: Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto (1751-1814), armorial bookplates of the one-time Governor-General of India between July 1807 and 1813.

THE FIRST QUARTO EDITION of Shakespeare's works, the first edition edited by Pope, one of only 750 sets printed. "If ever any author deserved the name of an Original, it was Shakespear...The Poetry of Shakespear was Inspiration indeed: he is not so much an Imitator, as an Instrument, of Nature; and 'tis not so just to say that he speaks from her, as that she speaks thro' him" (Pope's preface). Jaggard 498; Lowndes, 2259; Allibone II:2017.