Shakespeare's Sonnets

First printed in 1609, this sequence of 154 sonnets addresses a fair young man, a rival poet, and a dark-haired mistress, circling around beauty, time, lust, betrayal, and the claim that verse can outlast decay. The first group urges the youth to marry and beget; later poems turn to absence, jealousy, and self-disgust. A closing pair plays on the figures of Cupid and a bath. The book is a lyric sequence, not a play and not a narrative with a single plot, though a loose emotional story can be read across the numbered poems.

Quarter-bound in dark blue buckram with maroon crushed silk sides designed by Anna Murray. Plain dark blue slipcase.