The Life of King Henry V by William Shakespeare, Signed Harcourt Binding

Binding Details:  Signed custom binding by the Harcourt Bindery, Charlestown, Massachusetts bound in three-quarter morocco leather over complimentary cloth covered boards with raised bands to the spine and gilt titles and ruling with single gilt lines to the boards and corners. There are hand-sewn silk endbands, marbled endpapers, with the top page edges gold gilted. The Harcourt Bindery label appears on the bottom of the last free endpaper.

Book Details:  Published by The Heritage Press in 1951, this edition of Shakespeare’s The Life of King Henry V features beautiful illustrations by Fritz Kredel based upon the film version of the play created by Laurence Olivier. The text of the play is based on the Arden Shakespeare which is a long-running series of scholarly editions of the works of William Shakespeare. It presents fully edited modern-spelling editions of the plays and poems, with lengthy introductions and full commentaries. Arden was the maiden name of Shakespeare's mother, Mary, however the primary reference of the enterprise's title is named after the Forest of Arden, in which Shakespeare's As You Like It is set

Measures approximately 12.75” x 8.75” with 157 pages as well as a preface, introduction by Herbert Evans, and list of characters in the play.

Condition Report:  The binding is in FINE condition. Internally, the book is very clean with no signs of previous ownership. Overall, this is a beautiful binding that houses one of Shakespeare’s classic plays.

A photograph of the binding appears in the photo section of the listing.