Shakespeare's comedies, histories, & tragedies a supplement to the reproduction in facsimile of the first folio edition (1623) from the Chatsworth copy [...] containing a census of extant copies with some account of their history and condition.

Folio. Pagination: [1-7] 8-45 [1-3] = 24 leaves. Unbound. Stitched as issued, unopened and uncut. Printed with the Fell types on good but browning paper. In good condition, but with spotting to recto of first leaf, which has a small closed hole at head and some tiny closed tears at foot, and with two unobtrusive staple-stains to verso of last leaf. Creased and dog-eared at foot. The importance of this item in the history of Shakespeare studies has been emphasized recently by A. J. West (The Shakespeare First Folio. The History of the Book. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press, 2001). It is Lee, in the title of this item, who first used the word census in the context of bibliography, and, after Dibdin (in his Library Companion, 1824), this was the first work to systematically describe the peculiarities and whereabouts of the surviving copies of the first folio. A fine example of tasteful typography, beautifully printed with the Fell types.