American edition of the miniature 8-volume set of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare with Life & Glossary," published by David Bryce & Son in Glasgow around 1886. It was imported and co-published in New York by A. C. Armstrong and Son (located at 714 Broadway), using the exact same miniature plates and formatting managed by Glasgow editor J. Talfourd Blair.

The set features 8 individual miniature text blocks bound in textured tan or brown faux-alligator skin/morocco leather. The most distinctive feature of this particular variant is its hinged, two-part presentation box lined with patterned paper, featuring an ornate brass clasp and decorative gold-stamped lettering on the exterior reading "Shakespeare" and "Complete Works with Life & Glossary."

David Bryce utilized ultra-thin India paper and advanced photographic reduction techniques to pack full multi-page texts into books measuring only a couple of inches high, making them popular novelty and travel items in the late 19th century.

Five out of the eight volumes have separated inner hinges but leather is in excellent condition and all pages are still present and held together.