An interesting binder’s copy of the first Irish edition of The Beauties of Shakespeare: taking advantage of the national boundaries of copyright, this edition reissued – pirated – the second London/ Kearsley edition with a modified title page and numbering for the Irish English-reading market. It is a different selection from that compiled by William Dodd. Not as rare as the London editions: ESTC lists 3 copies in England (Birmingham Central Libraries, BL, Cambridge), two in Ireland (NLI and TCL) and 6 in the US (Harvard, UCL Irvine, Spencer Research Library, University of Michigan & the Harry Ransom Center (2 copies) (ESTC N32782; Jaggard, p.562). Beauties were popular books that doubled as entertainment and instruction. With the legal death of perpetual copyright the literary marketplace opened-up, with such compilations allowing the work of venerated authors to be incorporated into educational books and titles for children (as is evident here with a number of the PO inscriptions and doodles done in younger hands). Though his book selling career was tumultuous, George Kearsley (1739-1790) did see success as a Beauties publisher, with editions of his The Beauties of Johnson (1781) appearing for the next 70 years (much to Johnson’s disgruntlement) (ODNB).