Tales from Shakespeare

London: Ward, Lock & Co., Limited, c1918. Cloth. Very Good. 8.5" by 6.5". A. E. Jackson. Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb, with beautiful colour plates by A. E. Jackson. In the publisher's original pictorial cloth binding. 47 plates, as lacking front free end paper. Collated, incomplete. Tales from Shakespeare was written by the siblings Charles and Mary Lamb in 1807, intended for children but retaining as much Shakespearean language as possible. It was one of the bestselling books of the 19th century. Mary Lamb was responsible for retelling the comedies, Charles for the tragedies, and they omitted the more complex historical tales. A. E. Jackson (1873-1952) was an English artist who drew illustrations for The Sketch, painted covers to the Daily Mail Sixpenny Novel series, and illustrated children's books. In publisher's original pictorial cloth binding. Externally very smart, with only a little wear to the head and tail of the spine and to the extremities, and slight bumping to the colour illustration to the front board. Front hinge is tender but still reasonably firm. Rear hinge is starting but firm. Internally, firmly bound. Pages bright and clean, apart from the odd spot to the first and last couple of pages. Lacking illustrated front free end paper. Very Good