Shakespeare's Sonnets

First printed in 1609, this sequence of 154 sonnets addresses a fair young man, a dark-haired mistress, and, in places, a rival poet. Early poems urge the youth to marry and to defeat time through children and verse; later ones treat absence, betrayal, and lust. The closing pair retell the allegory of Cupid and a nymph. The dedication to Mr. W. H. remains part of the book's frame rather than a solved key. The book is a lyric sequence, not a play and not a decoded biography of Shakespeare, though it uses the first person throughout.

Bound in red buckram, cover blocked in gilt with a design. Gold slipcase.