Titus Andronicus

Written in the early 1590s, this revenge tragedy is set in a late imperial Rome of triumphs and faction. The general Titus returns from war with Gothic captives, including Queen Tamora, and sacrifices her son; he then backs Saturninus for emperor and loses his daughter Lavinia to a marriage that collapses. Tamora and her lover Aaron the Moor, with her remaining sons, visit mutilation and false charges on Titus's house. He answers with a feast and a concealed revenge. The play is a blood tragedy of cycle and excess, not a documentary Roman history.

Quarter bound in maroon Nigerian goatskin leather with marbled papers. Top edge gilding. Dark red endleaves. Oxford University Press commentary. Maroon solander box with leather label.