A Life of William Shakespeare

London: Constable and Company Ltd., c1923. Cloth. Very Good. 7.5" by 5.5". None. An early edition of A Life of William Shakespeare by Joseph Quincy Adams, with a black and white plate of the Chandos Portrait of Shakespeare to frontispiece. Joseph Quincy Adams, Jr. (1880 - 1946) was a prominent Shakespeare scholar and the first director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. Adams was actively involved with the Folger Shakespeare Library from its foundation in 1931. He became the Library's acting director in 1934, and its first regularly appointed director in 1936. He also served as the editor of its periodical publications, as well as the general editor of the New Variorum edition of Shakespeare's works (1935-46). He wrote and published a wide range of books and scholarly articles; he was especially noted for his biography of Shakespeare, first published in 1923. Previous owner's label to rear pastedown. In a cloth binding. Externally, smart but with slight wear to extremities, the odd very slight mark to boards, marginal fading, most pronounced to spine. Internally, firmly bound. Bright and generally clean throughout but with slight handling marks to text block edge and slight foxing to endpapers only. Very Good