PBA Galleries

2 volumes. First volume contains: Every Man in His Humor; Every Man Out of His Humor; Cynthias Revells; Poetaster; Sejanus; The Fox; The Silent Woman; The Alchymist; Catiline; Epigrammes; The Forrest; King's Entertainment; Particular Entertainment; Masques. Collation: [12], 668 pp. (A-Kkk6); [1]-228 pp. (Lll4, A-T6). Several pages incorrectly numbered, but text continuous and complete. Engraved portrait frontispiece (signed "Ro: Vaughan fecit"), engraved general title page (signed "Guliel' Hole fecit"), separate title pages for each part (each dated 1640). (folio) 27x18 cm. (10¾x7"), period full calf, respined to style. Second Edition. Second volume contains: Bartholomew Fayre; The Staple of Newes; The Divell is an Asse; The Magnetick Lady; A Tale of a Tub; The Sad Shepherd; [Masques]; Under-Woods, Consisting of Divers Poems; Horace, His Art of Poetrie Made English; The English Grammar; Timber. General title page dated 1640, each work (except the Masques) has a separate title page. First 3 works dated 1631; Sad Shepherd and Timber dated 1641, all others dated 1640. Collation: (first part) [12], 88 pp. (A6, B-M4); 75 pp. (Aa-Cc4, D-H4, I6); [5], 66 pp. (A2, B-I4, K2); 155 pp. (A-P4, Q2, R-V4); (second part) 292 pp. (B-Qq4); 132 pp. (A-K4, L3, M-R4). Several pages incorrectly numbered, but text continuous and complete. (folio) 29x19 cm. (11¼x7¼"), period full calf, respined to style, morocco lettering pieces. First Edition.

Together the 2 folios represent the complete works of Elizabethan dramatist and poet, Ben Jonson (1572-1637). The second volume is the first edition, the first 3 plays were printed in 1631 and edited by Jonson himself as a continuation of the 1616 first edition of the Workes. The remaining works, though issued without a general title page, essentially represent a third volume and were edited by Sir Kenelm Digby. As a dramatist Jonson was second only to his contemporary and friend, William Shakespeare, who appeared in at least 2 of Jonson's plays. "Will. Shakespeare" is listed in the cast of "principall Comedians" of the 1598 first performance of "Every Man His Humour" (vol. 1 pg. 4) and as one of the "principall Tragedians" in the 1603 first performance of "Sejanus" (vol. 1, p. 315). The elaborate "masques", which Jonson produced for the entertainment of the court of King Charles I are considered the finest examples of the form. A rare, important and desirable edition of the works of a central figure in Elizabethan English letters. ESTC S112456 & S111824.