William Shakespeare / W. Heath Robinson - Twelfth Night or What You Will [First Edition Illustrated by W. Heath Robinson] - 1908

DESCRIPTION: I am pleased to offer at auction a beautiful copy of the highly sought-after FIRST EDITION of William SHAKESPEARE’S Comedy "TWELFTH NIGHT OR WHAT YOU WILL", featuring 40 tipped-in colour plates with tissue guards by the great W. HEATH ROBINSON. A true treasure for collectors and lovers of classic illustrated literature.

W. Heath Robinson (1872-1944) belongs to the select group of the finest Golden Age illustrators, alongside Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac. Here he has created a lavish edition of this Shakespeare classic, featuring 40 tipped-in colour plates!

This is a book so special that it deserves a description worthy of it, one in which you, the bidder and future reader, become the protagonist:

Once upon a time, there was a collector who believed he was searching for a masterpiece. He did not yet know that, in truth, the masterpiece had already chosen him.

On a velvet-lined shelf, shielded from the relentless pace of the modern age, a rare volume waited in poise: the 1908 first edition of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, illuminated by the singular hand of W. Heath Robinson. When the cover was lifted, the air seemed to fill with the distant sound of lutes, the salt spray of an Illyrian sea, and the echoes of a laughter that had not aged a day. It was not a play to be merely recited, but a masquerade to be joined.

Robinson had envisioned this comedy as one captures a fleeting midsummer revelry: with colors that felt dipped in twilight and lines that danced between the ethereal and the absurd. His Illyria was not a mere stage; it was a garden of poetic melancholy and golden mischief. His characters—from the mourning Olivia to the cross-gartered Malvolio—did not just occupy the page; they lived within it, suspended in a moment of perfect, melodic chaos. Every plate seemed to murmur: if music be the food of love, play on.

Whoever turned these heavy pages understood something essential: before this story became a classic of the stage, it was a dream of identity and desire; before it was a curriculum, it was a celebration of the human heart’s beautiful folly. And that spirit had been preserved there, vibrant and still, in that very 1908 printing, like a melody caught in a bottle.

As the decades drifted by, copies of this caliber began to fade into the shadows of history. Many were locked away in silent vaults; others succumbed to the wear of time. Fewer and fewer remained in the light, and those that survived developed a quiet urgency, seeking a hand that would appreciate their weight.

The collector touched the spine with reverence. He understood then that certain books do not enter our lives to be owned; they come to transform our surroundings into something more magical. He realized that some treasures are not acquired through logic, but recognized by a soul that remembers a beauty it has seen before.

From that day on, the volume sat in a place of honor.

And the collector, whenever he caught sight of that gilded title, would feel a quiet joy: he had learned that the greatest comedies never truly take their final bow—they simply wait for the right person to call them back to the stage.

EXQUISITE AND HIGHLY SOUGHT-AFTER FIRST EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE’S COMEDY OF "TWELFTH NIGHT", ILLUSTRATED BY THE GREAT W. HEATH ROBINSON. DO NOT MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY.

LANGUAGE: English

PLACE AND YEAR OF PUBLICATION: London, [1908], Hodder & Stoughton

SIZE AND PAGINATION:
Dimensions: Quarto, 25,5 x 19 cm.
Thickness: 5 cm.
Pagination: 144 pp.
Illustrations: 40 tipped-in colour plates with tissue guards.
Weight: 1,5 kg.
COMPLETE WORK.

CONDITION: Original cloth binding, in good condition as shown in the photos. Spine and front cover decorated with beautiful gilt designs, featuring the title and the illustrator’s name, the great W. Heath Robinson.

Interior in very good condition, as shown in the photos. This wonderful copy features 40 tipped-in colour plates with tissue guards. Please see photos to get a sense of the condition and marvelous art. A FINE AND DESIRABLE COPY FOR COLLECTORS.

EXQUISITE AND HIGHLY SOUGHT-AFTER FIRST EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE’S COMEDY OF "TWELFTH NIGHT", ILLUSTRATED BY THE GREAT W. HEATH ROBINSON. DO NOT MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY.

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The book will be carefully packaged to ensure it enjoys a safe and comfortable journey to its new home.