Augustin Daly

The same person could extra-illustrate the same text to different ends. American theater manager and playwright Augustin Daly was also a prodigious book collector and extra-illustrator. Daly assembled several sets of Shakespeare, including a standard eight-volume Works extended to forty-two volumes. This first set of Shakespeare's Works is extended through the usual addition of prints of actual people and places treated in the plays, a range of prints representing Shakespeare illustration from the middle of the eighteenth century to Daly’s own time, and a similar range of playbills, actor portraits, and autograph letters. The second set, a volume from which is shown above, is made from a privately-printed, limited edition of Shakespeare’s plays as performed by Daly’s company in New York. In addition to the usual sort of extra-illustrations, these volumes include original costume design sketches, plus photographs of actors and sets, making them personal mementos of each production.