7 volumes, including the rare 7th volume of Poems. [2], xli, [13], 563; 656; [4], 499; 547, [1]; 599; 591, [1 blank], [36]; xv, [1], iv, lvii, [1], 5-454, [2] pp. Edited by Alexander Pope. General title printed in red and black. Illustrated with two engraved portraits by G. Vertue. (4to) 28x22 cm. (11x8½"), period calf, spines tooled in gilt, raised bands, morocco lettering pieces. First Pope Edition and First Quarto Edition.
First edition edited by Alexander Pope, and the first quarto edition of Shakespeare's collected works, including the rare seventh volume of Poems, edited by George Sewell, which is almost always lacking - of the 13 examples of this edition sold at auction since 1975, according to American Book Prices Current, only two had the seventh volume, and one of those was in a modern binding. From Pope's preface: "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."
Condition:
Some rubbing to covers with wear to corners and spine ends, lacking a few spine labels, joints tender or cracking; some light foxing to contents, occasional minor soiling, overall very good, a nicely printed edition, the present set well margined in a contemporary binding.