Plays (King Henry IV. Part 1 / King Henry IV. Part 2 / King Henry V / King Henry VI. Part 1 / King Henry VI. Part 2 / King Henry VI. Part 3 / King Henry VIII / King John / King Richard II / King Richard III / Troilus and Cressida)

The Nonesuch Shakespeare, published between 1929 and 1933 and subsequently reprinted in various forms, remains one of the most celebrated mid-century fine press editions of the playwright's work. It was designed by the typographer Francis Meynell, who founded the Nonesuch Press with the goal of creating books that combined the aesthetic quality of private presses with the accessibility of modern machine production. By utilizing the seventeenth-century First Folio text and eschewing the intrusive editorial emendations common in many Victorian editions, Meynell sought to present the plays in a clean, authoritative form that respected the integrity of the original language.

The edition is renowned for its elegant use of Garamond type and its restrained, sophisticated layout, which focuses the reader's attention entirely on the text. The 1953 iteration maintains these design principles, reflecting the Nonesuch Press's enduring commitment to high-quality bookmaking. It was widely received by bibliophiles and scholars alike as a definitive marriage of literary substance and refined typographical art, cementing its place as a staple in the collections of serious literature enthusiasts throughout the twentieth century.