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Rare book: The Life and Death of King John, extracted from the Second Folio edition of the works of William Shakespeare. London: Printed by Tho. Cotes, 1632. Hardcover, 8.5 x 12, 22 pages, bound by Bernard Middleton in full calf antique, tooled to a Cambridge design, contrasting paneled boards with outer frame and inner panel sprinkled, fillets and comer ornaments tooled in blind, sympathetic pastedowns and endpapers. Title lettered in gilt direct on front cover, along with "Second Folio 1632." Signed by Bernard Middleton in calligraphic script on final binder's leaf. In very good to fine condition, with light wrinkling to the textblock and sunning to the spine.
The Life and Death of King John is one of Shakespeare’s English history plays, dramatizing the turbulent reign of King John. Shakespeare drew principally upon the 1587 edition of Holinshed’s Chronicles, and the play is also closely associated with the anonymous The Troublesome Reign of John, King of England, first published in the late 16th century. Notably, King John is one of only two Shakespeare plays written entirely in verse, the other being Richard II.
This copy is distinguished by its fine binding by the celebrated British bookbinder Bernard C. Middleton (1924–2019), one of the most respected book craftsmen and historians of the modern era. Middleton trained at London’s Central School of Arts and Crafts and worked at the British Museum bindery before managing the prestigious firm of Zaehnsdorf and later establishing his own practice. An influential scholar of historical bookbinding as well as a master binder, he produced important designer bindings and undertook commissions for prominent collectors, libraries, and academic institutions. Middleton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and was appointed MBE in 1986 for his contributions to bookbinding.
