For many of us, Charles Lamb facilitated our first introduction to the work of Shakespeare. The children's book Tales from Shakespeare, which Lamb wrote with his sister Mary, presents 20 of Shakespeare's most popular comedies and tragedies in more accessible prose
For many of us, Charles Lamb facilitated our first introduction to the work of Shakespeare. The children's book Tales from Shakespeare, which Lamb wrote with his sister Mary, presents 20 of Shakespeare's most popular comedies and tragedies in more accessible prose form. The book has been in print more or less consistently since its first publication in 1807, and has remained popular throughout its long lifetime. Tales from Shakespeare is particularly remarkable as a children's book geared primarily towards girls. The Lamb siblings chose to do this in recognition of the fact that girls were generally excluded from the kind of education that introduced boys to Shakespeare. First editions of Takes from Shakespeare (Thomas Hodgkins: London, 1807) sell for around $4,000 to well over $6,000, depending on condition and the inclusion of a series of illustrations by William Mulready.
Lamb was not only notable as an anthologizer of Shakespeare. He was also recognized as a poet and essayist in his own right. His Essays of Elia, initially a series of essays published pseudonymously as Elia in The London Magazine between 1820 and 1825, was so popular that a second volume, Last Essays of Elia, was published in 1833. The first British editions of Essays of Elia (Taylor and Hessey: London, 1823) and Last Essays of Elia (Edward Moxon: London, 1833) each sell for about $2,000. The first American editions of both books, which were both published by Carey, Lea and Carey of Philadelphia in 1828, are valued at similar prices.
Coleridge, S. T. Poems. Printed by N. Biggs for J. Cottle, Bristol and Messrs. Robinsons, London (1797). Lamb, Charles and Lloyd, Charles; Second Edition, to Which are Now Added Poems By Charles Lamb and Charles Lloyd; eleven new poems by Coleridge and new poems by both other poets, includingSonnets 108,Childhood and others by Lamb, andSonnets,The Melancholy Man,Lines on the Death of an Infant and others by Lloyd.
Lamb, Charles. John Woodvil. G. and J. Robinson, London (1802). A Tragedy; To Which are Added, Fragments of Burton, the Author of The Anatomy of Melancholy.
Lamb, Charles. The book of the Ranks and Dignities of British Society. Tabart and Co, London (1805). Chiefly Intended for the Instruction of Young Persons; Twenty-four hand-colored stipple-engraved plates
Lamb, Charles. Tales from Shakespeare. Printed for Thomas Hodgkins, London (1807). Designed for the use of young persons. Embellished with copper-plates; In two volumes; illustrated with 20 copper plates engraved by William Blake
Lamb, Charles. The Adventures of Ulysses. Davison, London (1808). Engraved frontispiece and additional vignette engraved title-page by Charles Heath
Lamb, Charles. The Adventures of Ulysses. M. J. Godwin and Co., London (1819). with a vignette engraved by Charles Heath after Richard Corbould.
Lamb, Charles. ELIA. Taylor and Hessey, London (1823). Essays which Have Appeared Under That Signature in the London Magazine
Lamb, Charles. Elia. Carey, Lea, and Carey, Philadelphia (1828). Essays Which Have Appeared Under That Signature in the London Magazine
Lamb, Charles. ALBUM VERSES. Edward Mo