Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man

London: E. and C. McLean, 1824. All The World's a Stage"
Shakspeare's Seven Ages of Man as Depicted by Henry Alken

ALKEN, Henry, illustrator. Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man, Illustrated by Henry Alken. London: Published by E. and C. McLean, 1824.

First edition. Oblong folio (11 1/8 x 16 1/2 inches; 283 x 419 mm.). One page of text, plus seven large hand-colored etchings.

Publisher's printed paper wrappers, expertly rebacked. A bit of edgewear to wrappers, the last plate with a short 1/4 inch closed tear to lower blank margin. A wonderful example with wide margins, housed in a red cloth portfolio, front panel lettered in gilt.

The text leaf is an excerpt from Shakespeare's As You Like It (Act II, Scene VII). In "All The World's a Stage" the character Jaques speaks about the seven ages of man from birth till death where he sees the world as a temporary stage where all of mankind plays particular roles in seven different stages of life.

OCLC/KVK locate only seven copies in institutional holdings worldwide.

The plates are titled:

The Infant (June 20th. 1824)
The School-Boy (June 15th, 1824)
The Lover (June 15th. 1824) (watermarked J. Whatman 1824)
The Soldier (June 20th. 1824)
The Justice (June 20th. 1824)
The Sixth Age (June 20th. 1824)
Last Scene of all (June 20th. 1824) (watermarked J. Whatman 1824)

"This is of a very different sort from Stothard's Seven Ages. It represents a satirical treatment of that speech, with hand-coloured etchings by Henry Alken which are very amusing" (Colin Franklin).

Abbey, Life in England, 256; Bobins II, 611; Jaggard, p. 288; Tooley, 47.