London: Methuen, 1909
016.822 [Shakespeare-Appendix-bibliography-Pollard] fol.
A.W. Pollard was a key figure in twentieth century Shakespearean textual scholarship, and the first Professor of Bibliography here at the University of London. He was also, as Keeper of Printed Books at the British Museum, an important and inspiring example of the scholarly librarian. Along with other scholars such as W. W. Greg and R. B. McKerrow, known loosely as the ‘New Bibliographers,’ Pollard laid the foundations for a wholly revivified discussion of the historical accuracy of Shakespeare’s text. This, Pollard’s first major work, effectively reintroduced the quarto editions of the plays as subjects of serious scholarship. While these texts had been mostly disregarded as hopelessly corrupt, Pollard argued with a wealth of bibliographic detail that in some instances they may be closer to the ultimate truth of an original Shakespearean manuscript. The pursuit of textual accuracy became an almost archaeological investigation in this period, and Pollard continued to chase this original source through the many imperfect sources at his disposal for decades.