Garrick’s gilded coat of arms is tooled into the front and back cover of the binding. This copy became part of the British Library's collections under the 1972 British Library Act, and is one of seven known to exist listed in the English Short Title Catalogue. The copy shown here was once owned by the Shakespearean actor David Garrick, who bequeathed it to the British Museum upon his death in 1779. On the stage the play belonged to the actor Richard Burbage, who played the central role, but in print it was now branded as Shakespeare’s. The addition of Shakespeare’s name to a reprint of a play was rare, and it demonstrates that both Wise and his customers considered Shakespeare’s name to be a desirable-and, more importantly, a profitable commodity. E DWARD, Prince of Wales afterwards King Edward the Fifth, & R ICHARD, Duke of York: Sons to the King. The most significant change, however, occurs on the title page, where the phrase “ By William Shake-speare” was inserted. The Tragedy of King Richard the Third K ING E DWARD THE F OURTH. Wise seems to have taken an interest in the text of the play, since there are a few corrections, including the addition of two lines missing from the first scene of the play in the previous edition. The second edition was printed by Thomas Creede. Andrew Wise published the first edition in 1597, and copies seem to have sold out very quickly, since he published the play again the next year, in 1598, as shown here. Richard III was an immediate success in the bookshops of London.
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