Dedication and preface by Josiah Boydell dated March 25, 1805; the plates are dated 1790-1804.

Title-vignettes (of Mrs. Damer's basso relievos).

Pub. in 1852 with title: The American edition of Boydell's Illustrations.

Vol. I contains frontispiece (full length portrait of George III, by Sir W. Beechey) and XLVI plates, Xl to XLVI being Smirke's Seven ages; vol. II consists of frontispiece (portrait of Queen Charlotte, also by Beechey) and L plates, the last three "not engraved from the large pictures, but may be added to vol. II." These three are: Romney's "Shakespeare nursed by Tragedy and Comedy," Westall's "Imogen in boy's clothes," and Josiah Boydell's "Desdemona asleep." Counting the title vignettes, 100 designs in all. cf. List of plates, v.2.

Of the artists, Smirke, Fuseli, and Northcote contributed the largest number of plates; the others, including Reynolds, Opie, and Sothard, are represented by from one to five plates each; engraved by R. Thew, T. Ryder, P. Simon and others.

Sometimes confused with "Boydell's graphic illustrations ... of Shakespeare," 1804?, a separate issue of the (smaller) plates prepared for their edition of Shakespeare, 1802, which also consists of 100 plates, most of them quite different from these large plates.