Select Plays of William Shakspeare in Six Volumes. Volume VI (All's Well That Ends Well / Antony and Cleopatra / As You Like It / Comedy of Errors / Coriolanus / King Henry IV. Part 1 / King Henry VIII / King Richard II / King Richard III / Romeo and Juliet / Taming of the Shrew / Troilus and Cressida / Winter's Tale)

This 1820 edition of Select Plays of William Shakspeare was published during a period of burgeoning nineteenth-century interest in making the works of the Bard accessible to a wider reading public. Printed for the proprietors by G.L. Austin, such multi-volume sets were typical of the era's efforts to consolidate Shakespeare's dramatic output into manageable, uniform collections for home libraries. These volumes were designed to serve the educated middle class, reflecting the Victorian tendency toward standardized, comprehensive literary collections that emphasized both aesthetic shelf-appeal and the educational value of classical drama.

The editorial and design choices in this volume, which include a sprawling selection of comedies, histories, and tragedies, represent the era's reliance on established, inherited texts that predated more modern, scholarly critical editions. While these editions were not designed for academic textual analysis, they were well-received as functional and dignified additions to the private libraries of the time. They are valued today primarily as historical artifacts of printing history and evidence of the persistent cultural authority Shakespeare held in the domestic sphere of the early nineteenth century.