The Sun.
London, England, 1821-12-26 00:00:00

PRE COUNTRY VERSUS LONDON,
-41- No. 111. Oro the Ist of JANUARY NEXT will be
PUIILISHED, by :\lesrs, RIVING I ON, and to be had of
all 13(mli,cllers in Town and Country, price Two Shillings.

. ,
SNIIRKE'S SHAKESPEARE.
In the conrse of Publication,
if LLUST RATIONS of SHAKESPEARE,
.M., hmn Pictures • Painted expressly for this WORK, by
irollEßT SMIRKE, Esq. ILA. and Engraved in the finest
style by the most eminent I-1 !SI OtiCit I Engravers.
A celebrated German critic hiss said, that the fame of
Shakspeare,"-for centuries to come, will continue to gather
strength, like an Alpiue avalanche, at every period of its de•
scent." Certain it is, that any work connected with Shak-
- 'speare's name, and which has fur its object' the illustratiiin of
. . his inimitable productions, may confidently rely 011 hiding
fav;iiii vitli the world. His tame is the cause of hone
1
in others. Commentators innumerable have been permit.
ted to inscribe their - otherwise perishable names on the
eternal rock of his genius ; and even Players have for,.
yearsacquited opulence and popularity by happy portraitures
of his living characters. In announcing, therefore, a series
of engravings, intended as embellishments for any edition of
4 Shakspeart's Plays, it is unnecessary to offer an argument to
vindicate, or an apology to excuse, the undertaking.
The spirit of poetry, which hauots every scene of the Plays
of Shakspeare, beckons to her sister art to wander with her,
and thus " make society the sweeter welcome :" and it will
now, it is hoped, tie 'seen that she does nut call in vain: In
the whole range of the drama, there are no works in which
. characters so, striking and various, or ,fituations so romantic
twit delightful, present themselves, to invite the illustration,
and inspire the emulation, of pain ins.
The edill0(1% of our Putt's plays have for the must part been
published without embellishments, or encumbered with en-
g rayi ngS SO indifferent, as to make their possessors consider
them "-when unadorned, adorned the must." It is chiefly
TO supply inch editions that the Proprietors of the present
Work have undertaken it. Each Play will furnish subjects
for five elegant Engravings, iii addition to a Vignette; the
aggregate number, therefore, of the plates will be Two Hun-
dred- and Twenty4wo.
The name of the Artist from whose hand the Paintings for
this Work are to proceed, may fully justify, and will doubt-
less not deceive, the most sanguine expectations. The Ge
nius of Smirke has successfully displayed its power in-his ll-
lastrations to-Gil Bias, the Arabian Nights' Entertainmeuts,
1 and the late Edition of Pon Qeixote ; and the varied scenes
of passion andbumour, in the Plays of Shakspeare, will afford
a still more ample scope for the extraordinary skill and
f beauty oihis penZil.
. • The Proprietors, refraining from the usual promises and
flatteries of a prospectus, content thtuuselves with referring
-•; the public to the Numbers already published of this Work, as
a fair specimen of the care and ability with. which the whole
' . will regularly be produced. . .
. . MODE OF FUBLICATIoN :
.
I. The Work will be comprised in Thirty-seven Numbers ;
i each Number containing Five Illustrative Engravings, and a
' - Vignette.
11. A Number will be publisiled every Two Months, till
completed. 4. .1. il.
• India paper, proofs, tto • 1 10 0
French paper, proofs, 4to ..... - 1 5 0
Imperial Beo 0 18 0
i' Royal Bvo 0 14 0
*4ls. For the accommodation of those who may be desirous
of possessing a beautiful and curt ect Edition of Shakspeare,
it. is intended to publish one, in Octavo, (without Notes,) from
the last corrected text of Johnson and Steevens; and the Play
ilhistrated will be published at the same time with the Em-
bellishments, price Three Shillings each Number. A limit-
i•• ed number of copies will be printed on Imperial Octavo,
t price Six Shillings each Number.
f' The Numbers already published are as follow :
' I. The Tempest. •
11. Taming of the Shrew.
• HI. Merry Wives of Windsor.

• • • • •
IV. Twelfth Night, (in February 1822.)
V. Nlea,ure for Measure, Oil
VI. Romeo and Juliet, (in June.)
VII. Henry the Fourth, Pat t I, (in August.)
VIII. Midsummer Night's Dream, (in October.)
IX. Two Gentlemen of Verona, (in December.)
Lostdon • Printed for Itodwell and Martin, Bond-street. ;
• sold by Colnaghi end Co. Cockspur-street, and the principal
noultstilers in the United Kingdom.