The Dramatic Works.

London: Thomas Tegg,, 1812-15. A handsomely bound set First Tegg and Thurston edition, large paper issue, here presented in an attractive period binding. Thurston was the leading Shakespeare illustrator for the first three decades of the 19th-century, with this edition being considered "his most attractive and complete set" (Cannon-Brookes, p. 40). John Thurston (1774–1822) is known especially for his collaborations with the Chiswick Press. His drawings "were admirably adapted to the wood-engraver's art, which was carried to its greatest perfection under his influence... he made a significant contribution to the formation of a modern school of wood-engraving" (ODNB). He was for a time "the principal artist in London who had any repute as a designer on the wood" (Redgrave, p. 431). A duodecimo issue of the set appeared simultaneously. Twelve volumes, octavo (195 x 119 mm). Contemporary red straight-grain morocco, spines with raised bands, lettering and gilt decoration in compartments, covers elaborately tooled in blind and gilt with floral borders and large centrepieces including a lyre tool, board edges and turn-ins ruled in gilt, orange endpapers, edges gilt. Engraved vignette title pages by Richard Rhodes after John Thurston. Spines and edges toned, extremities skilfully retouched, a few corners bumped, minor scuffs or marks to leather, repairs to headcaps of 3 vols, superficial splits to rear inner hinge of vol. 4, intermittent foxing to contents, occasional small marks, otherwise clean. A very good set. Jaggard p. 512; Lowndes VIII, p. 2264. Peter Cannon-Brookes, The Painted Word: British History Painting, 1750-1830, 1991; Samuel Redgrave, A Dictionary of Artists of the English School, 1878.