''The Cambridge Shakespeare'' is a long-running series of

critical editions Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's works published by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...

. The name encompasses three distinct series: ''The Cambridge Shakespeare'' (1863–1866), ''The New Shakespeare'' (1921–1969), and ''The New Cambridge Shakespeare'' (1984–present).

''The Cambridge Shakespeare'' (1863–1866)

''The Cambridge Shakespeare'' was edited by

William George Clark William George Clark (March 18216 November 1878) was an English classical and Shakespearean scholar. Life He was born at Barford Hall, Darlington. He was educated at Sedbergh School, Shrewsbury School, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he ...

William Aldis Wright William Aldis Wright (1 August 183119 May 1914), was an English writer and editor. Wright was son of George Wright, a Baptist minister in Beccles, Suffolk. He was educated at Beccles Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he gradua ...

, and John Glover. It was released in nine volumes between 1863 and 1866. Clark and Wright used the ''

First Folio ''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...

'' (1623) as their base text and collated it with the second, third, and fourth folios as well as all the known quarto editions. The edition modernized the orthography to 19th-century standards rather than preserve the variable

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...

spelling, but generally left the grammar and metre unchanged. In the edition, each page of a play contains a critical apparatus at the end. Where the folio text differs markedly from the quarto editions the quarto text is included in small type after the main text. Notes on variants, emendations, or pointing out or clarifying passages of particular difficulty or interest are placed at the end of each play. In what a modern editor called "a bold move for a Victorian edition", Clark and Wright restored various original phrases that had previously been considered profane, where needed to preserve metre or meaning. In 2009,

reissued all nine volumes as part of their ''Cambridge Library Collection'' which aims to preserve access to "books of enduring scholarly value". The reissued editions are: * * * * * * * * *

''The New Shakespeare'' (1921–1969)

''The New Shakespeare'' was published between 1921 and 1969.Publication preface to The New Cambridge Shakespeare, ''Henry VIII'', by Philip Brockbank, 1990 The series was edited by

Arthur Quiller-Couch Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (; 21 November 186312 May 1944) was a British writer who published using the pseudonym Q. Although a prolific novelist, he is remembered mainly for the monumental publication '' The Oxford Book of English Verse ...

and

J. Dover Wilson John Dover Wilson CH (13 July 1881 – 15 January 1969) was a professor and scholar of Renaissance drama, focusing particularly on the work of William Shakespeare. Born at Mortlake (then in Surrey, now in Greater London), he attended Lancing Co ...

. The earlier volumes of the series contain critical introductions by Quiller-Couch (signed "Q") and written in a ''

belles lettres is a category of writing, originally meaning beautiful or fine writing. In the modern narrow sense, it is a label for literary works that do not fall into the major categories such as fiction, poetry, or drama. The phrase is sometimes used pejora ...

'' style that, according to R. A. Foakes in ''The Oxford Handbook to Shakespeare'' (2003), have been "largely forgotten". The textual work by Wilson, however, "proved enormously influential." In the 1921 edition of '' The Tempest'', Wilson included a

facsimile A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of ...

of the

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced i ...

for ''

Sir Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lor ...

'' and a full discussion of the copy for the texts, which afterward became required reading in the field. Shakespeare's hand in the manuscript for ''Sir Thomas More'' was discovered by

Edward Maunde Thompson Sir Edward Maunde Thompson (4 May 1840 – 14 September 1929) was a British palaeographer and Principal Librarian and first Director of the British Museum. He is noted for his handbook of Greek and Latin palaeography and for his study of Will ...

in ''Shakespeare's Handwriting: A Study'' (1916)—and treated in detail in what is still the definitive study: ''Shakespeare's Hand in the Play of Sir Thomas More'' (1923) by Alfred W. Pollard,

W. W. Greg Sir Walter Wilson Greg (9 July 1875 – 4 March 1959), known professionally as W. W. Greg, was one of the leading bibliographers and Shakespeare scholars of the 20th century. Family and education Greg was born at Wimbledon Common in 1875. H ...

, R. W. Chambers and Wilson—but ''The New Shakespeare'' was the first series of editions to bring this discovery to bear on editing Shakespeare. The series was also the first to apply Pollard's recognition of the primacy of the quartos to textual work. The last volume of the series was ''

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

'', edited by J. C. Maxwell in 1969.Prefatory note, ''Henry VIII'', The New Shakespeare, 1969

''The New Cambridge Shakespeare'' (1984–present)

''The New Cambridge Shakespeare'' began in 1984, and several editions were published each year, so that today, all of Shakespeare's plays and poems are available in the series. The series was designed to replace ''The New Shakespeare'' series. The New Cambridge editions feature lengthy introductions and copious annotation. They are distinctive in appearance, being taller in shape than most of their competitors. The earliest editions featured cyan covers with an illustration by C. Walter Hodges of the relevant play in performance on an Elizabethan stage. In the 1990s, these covers were replaced with a new uniform blue design featuring a multicoloured sketch of Shakespeare's face based on a drawing by

David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...

. In the 2000s, the series was reissued again with each play receiving a specific photographic image (in colour). The earliest editions in the series feature drawings by

C. Walter Hodges Cyril Walter Hodges (18 March 1909 – 26 November 2004) was an English artist and writer best known for illustrating children's books and for helping to recreate Elizabethan theatre. He won the annual Greenaway Medal for British children's boo ...

that reconstruct the appearance of the plays when first produced in the

Elizabethan theatre English Renaissance theatre, also known as Renaissance English theatre and Elizabethan theatre, refers to the theatre of England between 1558 and 1642. This is the style of the plays of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson ...

; this practice continued until Hodges' death in 2004. Notable editions published in the series include the first ever edition of the disputed play ''

Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...

'' to be published as Shakespeare's as part of a series; and a controversial edition of ''

Pericles, Prince of Tyre ''Pericles, Prince of Tyre'' is a Jacobean play written at least in part by William Shakespeare and included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions over its authorship, as it was not included in the First Folio. It was p ...

'' that rejects the conventional thesis that the play was poorly printed and the result of

collaborative authorship Collaborative fiction is a form of writing by a group of authors who share creative control of a story. Collaborative fiction can occur for commercial gain, as part of education, or recreationally – many collaboratively written works have been ...

. The series also uniquely produces fully edited modern-spelling editions of

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

texts when they differ significantly from the standard received text of the play. These include editions of the first quarto of ''Hamlet'', the first quarto of ''Henry V'', quarto ''King Lear'', the ''Richard III'', the quarto of ''

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cyp ...

'', the first quarto of ''Romeo and Juliet'', and '' The Taming of a Shrew'', an alternate version of ''

The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunk ...

''. The general editors of the series are

Philip Brockbank Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who populariz ...

(1984–1990) and Brian Gibbons (1990–present), with individual editors, or pairs of, assigned to cover separate plays and poetry.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cambridge Shakespeare, The Cambridge University Press books Series of books Shakespearean scholarship

''The Cambridge Shakespeare'' (1863–1866)

''The New Shakespeare'' (1921–1969)

''The New Cambridge Shakespeare'' (1984–present)

See also

References

External links