ALL FOR LOVE: OR, THE WORLD WELL LOST by DRYDEN, JOHN - 1678

London: Printed by Tho. Newcomb, for Henry Herringman, 1678. FIRST EDITION. 216 x 167 mm. (8 1/2 x 6 1/2"). 10 p.l., 78 pp., [1] leaf (epilogue).
Late 19th century dark red morocco-backed buckram boards, smooth spine with gilt vertical lettering, modern endpapers. Some 19th century pencil and pen notations to endleaves; the dramatis personae with roughly contemporary notes in ink. Macdonald 82a; Pforzheimer 313; Wing D-2229; ESTC R15963. ◆Half-inch split to tail of front joint, but the binding solid and entirely clean. Title page tipped onto flyleaf, contents a little toned and perhaps lightly pressed (but not washed), a few top margins trimmed close (other margins ample), final text leaf with neatly repaired tear from bottom corner into four lines of text (no loss), other trivial defects, but a perfectly respectable copy of a major work nearly always found in regrettable condition.

Dryden's earliest adaptation of Shakespeare (he would later take on "Troilus and Cressida" and "The Tempest"), this retelling of "Antony and Cleopatra" is called by Pforzheimer "the finest product of Restoration tragedy," and is considered by Day to be "a masterpiece of its type and perhaps the greatest English tragedy in the period following the Renaissance." In addition to altering the Bard's language to suit the tastes of Restoration audiences, Dryden also greatly reduced the number of characters, expunging anyone deemed superfluous to the overarching themes of his play. As explained by DNB, "Clearer in design than Shakespeare's play, ['All for Love'] concentrates more sharply on the final dilemma of Antony, torn between Rome, martial and marital duties, and masculine friendship on the one hand, and his love for Cleopatra on the other." The present copy was evidentially owned by an active early theater-goer, as the dramatis personae has been amended with the names of actors featured in the 1704 revival, penned in a neat contemporary hand..