exceeded in value by some
half-dozen volumes of far earlier date and of exceptional typographical
interest. It seems that about 140 copies have been traced within the
past century. Of these fewer than twenty are in a perfect state, that
is, with the portrait _printed_ (_not inlaid_) _on_ the title-page, and
the flyleaf facing it, with all the pages succeeding it, intact and
uninjured. (The flyleaf contains Ben Jonson's verses attesting the
truthfulness of the portrait.) Excellent copies in this enviable state
are in the Grenville Library at the British Museum, and in the libraries
of the Duke of Devonshire, the Earl of Crawford, the Baroness
Burdett-Coutts, and Mr. A. H. Huth. Of these probably the finest and
cleanest is the 'Daniel' copy belonging to the Baroness Burdett-Coutts.
It measures 13 inches by 8.25, and was purchased by its present owner for
716 pounds 2s. at the sale of George Daniel's library in 1864. Some
twenty more copies are defective in the preliminary pages, but are
unimpaired in other respects. There remain about a hundred copies which
have sustained serious damage at various points.

Reprints of the First Folio.

A reprint of the First Folio unwarrantably purporting to be exact was
published in 1807-8. {311} The best reprint was issued in three parts by
Lionel Booth in 1861, 1863, and 1864. The valuable photo-zincographic
reproduction undertaken by Sir Henry James, under the direction of Howard
Staunton, was issued in sixteen folio parts between February 1864 and
October 1865. A reduced photographic facsimile, too small to be legible,
appeared in 1876, with a preface by Halliwell-Phillipps.

The Second Folio. The Third Folio. The Fourth Folio.

The Second Folio edition was printed in 1632 by Thomas Cotes for Robert
Allot and William Aspley, each of whose names figures as publisher on
different copies. To Allot Blount had transferred, on November 16, 1630,
his rights in the sixteen plays which were first licensed for publication
in 1623. {312a} The Second Folio was reprinted from the First; a few
corrections were made in the text, but most of the changes were arbitrary
and needless. Charles I's copy is at Windsor, and Charles II's at the
British Museum. The 'Perkins Folio,' now in the Duke of Devonshire's
possession, in which John Payne Collier introduced forged emendations,
was a copy of that of 1632. {312b} The Third Folio--for the most part a
faithful reprint of th