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  • Gallery Three: The Lover

Gallery Three: The Lover

In search of the perfect Shakespeare

And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow

The first serious scholarship around the texts started to appear in the eighteenth century, with editors such as Nicholas Rowe, Lewis Theobald, William Warburton, Samuel Johnson and Edmond Malone attempting to produce ‘clean’ versions. Shakespeare became part of the literary canon. At the same time, his plays were adapted freely for performance purposes and audiences fell in love with his work all over again, thanks to actors such as David Garrick who organised the Shakespeare Jubilee in Stratford upon Avon in 1769 and built a temple to Shakespeare on the banks of the Thames at his home in Hampton.

Gallery

Thumbnail for The Works of Mr. William Shakespear in Six Volumes
Thumbnail for The Works of Mr. William Shakespear in Six Volumes
Thumbnail for The Works of Mr. William Shakespear in Six Volumes
Thumbnail for The Works of Mr. William Shakespear in Six Volumes
Thumbnail for The Works of Mr. William Shakespear in Six Volumes
Thumbnail for The Works of Mr. William Shakespear in Six Volumes
Thumbnail for The Works of Shakespear in Six Volumes
Thumbnail for The Works of Shakespear in Six Volumes
Thumbnail for The Works of Shakespear in Six Volumes
Thumbnail for The Plays of William Shakespeare in Eight Volumes
Thumbnail for The Plays of William Shakespeare in Eight Volumes
Thumbnail for The Plays of William Shakespeare in Eight Volumes
Thumbnail for Shakspeare’s Dramatic Works, vol. 1
Thumbnail for Shakspeare’s Dramatic Works, vol. 1
Thumbnail for Shakspeare’s Dramatic Works, vol. 1
Thumbnail for Shakspeare’s Dramatic Works, vol. 1
Thumbnail for Hamlet, Prinz von Dännemark: ein Trauerspiel in 6 Aufzügen
Thumbnail for Hamlet, Prinz von Dännemark: ein Trauerspiel in 6 Aufzügen
Thumbnail for Hamlet, Prinz von Dännemark: ein Trauerspiel in 6 Aufzügen
Thumbnail for Bell’s Edition of Shakespeare’s Plays
Thumbnail for Bell’s Edition of Shakespeare’s Plays
Thumbnail for Remarks, Critical and Illustrative, on the Text and Notes of the Last Edition of Shakspeare

Further reading

  • Murphy, Andrew, Shakespeare in Print: A History and Chronology of Shakespeare Publishing (Cambridge, 2003)
  • Ritchie, Fiona and Peter Sabor (ed.), Shakespeare in the Eighteenth Century (Cambridge, 2012)
  • Williams, Simon, Shakespeare on the German Stage. Vol. 1, 1586-1914 (Cambridge, 1990)
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Shakespeare: Metamorphosis was an exhibition season that ran at Senate House Library from April to September 2016.

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