First edition illustrated with 80 plates hors texte. Each play is accompanied by one steel engraving and one wood engraving. The names appearing on the plates include Geoffroy, Verdeil, Rouargue, and Harvey, though most of the steel engravings — remarkably fine and often marked by a highly imaginative, at times visionary style — are unsigned.
Publisher’s original blue morocco-grain cloth binding, richly gilt, the spine lavishly decorated with a geometric interlace and foliate motifs; the boards with a large romantic blind-stamped frame and two distinct central designs, one depicting Falstaff, the other a composition with a lyre, a medallion, and related emblems. Slight damage at the upper joint. On the lower board, a strip of cloth appears to have been reinforced or filled.
Attractive copy.