THE WORKS OF BEN JONSON

JONSON, Ben.  THE WORKS OF BEN JONSON.                          

London: Printed by Thomas Hodgkin for H. Herringman, and others, 1692. Folio. Contemporary calf, professionally rebacked. Engraved frontispiece. (x), 264, 281-382, 393-744, (4) pages. First complete collected edition. [Pforzheimer, 561].

Ben Jonson's works were first issued in 1616 with a second volume appearing in 1640.  The 1692 edition includes a comedy, The New Inn, which appears here for the first time.  It was also the last folio edition and the best.  Our copy contains the engraved frontispiece by W. Elder, sold separately and frequently missing from other copies.  While the pagination is erratic, due to simultaneous printings by several printers, the work is complete.  Also, "The Irish Masque at Court," which appears here on pages 375 and 376, is not called for in the index or in Pforzheimer.  In colonial Virginia copies were owned by William Byrd and John Mercer.  A Presentation Copy from the Countess Dowager of Suffocke dated November 2, 1716.

$2,400.00