Shakespeare’s library. A collection of the ancient novels, romances, legends, poems, and histories, used by Shakespeare as the foundation of his dramas. Now first collected, and accurately reprinted from the original editions [...] Vol. II

Full title: Shakespeare’s library. A collection of the ancient novels, romances, legends, poems, and histories, used by Shakespeare as the foundation of his dramas. Now first collected, and accurately reprinted from the original editions. With introductory notices, By J. Payne Collier, Esq., F.S.A. Vol. II.

Second of 2 volumes in 8vo. f. [1], pp. ii, f. [1], pp. viii, f. [1], pp. 132, f. [1], pp. 12, f. [1], pp. 13-24, f. [1], pp. 25-49, f. [1], pp. 50-62, f. [1], pp. 63-110, f. [1], pp. [2], 23, [1] (blank), f. [1], 24-50, f. [1], pp. 51-77, [1] (blank), f. [1], pp. 29, [1] (blank), pp. xvi, 33-46, [1]. Original cloth.

A reissue of the 1843 sheets (see Bib# 710474/Fr# 958 in this collection), with a new title page. Content: Romeus and Juliet, a poem, by Arthur Brooke. Rhomeo and Julietta; from Paynter's Palace of pleasure. Giletta of Narbona, on which is founded All's well that ends well; from Paynter's Palace of pleasure. The story of the two lovers of Pisa, which Shakespeare employed in his Merry wives of Windsor. The historie of Apollonius and Silla, containing part of the plot of Twelfth night; reprinted from Rich's Farewell to military profession, 1606. The historie of Promos and Cassandra, closely resembling the plot of Measure for measure; from Whetstone's Heptameron of civil discourses, 1582. Novels more or less resembling the Merchant of Venice. The story of a Moorish captain, on which is founded the tragedy of Othello; form the Heccatomithi of Cinithio. Queen Cordila, a poem, by John Higgins; from the Mirror for magistrates, 1587. The story of the Paphlagonian unkind king, on which is founded the epistode of Gloster and his sons, in King Lear; from Holinshed's Chronicle. The story of the shepherdess Felismena, from which Shakespeare is said to have taken the plot of The two gentlemen of Verona; from the Diana of Montemayor, tr. by B. Young, 1598. The story told by the fishwife of Stand on the Green, the incidents of which are similar to some of those in Cymbeline; from Westwardfor Smelts, 1620. See also A. & J. Freeman, John Payne Collier. Scholarship and Forgery in the Nineteenth Century. New Haven, 2004, II, A55b.

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