New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-12-05
THE ABBEY SHAKESPEARE
A SPLENDID EDITION OF THE COMEDIES

MANY Drawings by Edwin A. Abbey. Four
volumes. Large octave Harper q bro'hers'
1898.
The publishers call this regal edition OF the
comedies 1.-The Abbey Shakespeare There IS
4ust,ce IN the phrase Mr.. Abbey has made the
PLAYS his own. in so far As an illustrator may
he said to accomplish such q thing. He has
flung himself into the Interpretation OF snakes
pesre as an actor might have done, feeling the
sn,rit of the dramatist and searching out with
passionate ardor all the splendors which are
draped about the central conception OF each
immortal play He has weighed the characters
with intellectual acumen. sympathized with
them. and given them their natural investiture
of material charm or picturesqueness; so mat
Isabella and the Shrew. Shylock and Goooo
Autolycus and the rotund knight move through
the volumes with an appeal 10 the eye III
UNIQUE accord with Shakespeare's appeal 10
the readers inner vision. This is high praise
We have offered It many times during the prog
ress OF this series Of pictures. and we DO not
hesitate to offer 1t again. especially since Inc
drawings have been reproduced for the present
volumes with a nicely which makes the pnoto-
xrayures veritable equivalents for the original
PRODUCTIONS The mechanical excellence of the
edition IN fact. deserves a word by itselr. IN
indication OF the perfect basis Mr.. Abbey has
Gin with the natural cause and groundwork
for his illustrations have been restored, TO W.T.
the comedies themselves. Mr.. Lang's desuitory
comments were pertunctory enough; readaoe'
perhaps but OF no permanent value. and they
will not be missed. Taking. then the comedies
themselves and printing them with admirable
type on an equally satisfactory paper, the pup
fishers have arranged them IN four tasteiuhy
hound volumes OF convenient size. with every
one OF the numerous illustrations printed N
photogravure special paper II there be any
defect OF book-making in the edition we nave
failed to see IT, The volumes are handsome to
look upon. luxurious and easy TO handle IL
the form in which they are printed has any
thing to DO with It, the comedies Will be read
IN these volumes with pleasure never DeIore
approached in illustrated editions. The Illus
..at,ons increase that pleasure in very great
degree.
Mr.. Abbey's linear method is delicate and
fine that Il has often been accused of degea-
Grating into a scheme of pen touches too subtle
for any use Sometimes the criticism has been
warranted by the facts. More often 1t has been
hastily founded on the appearance Of ;he pic
lures in "Harper's Magazine" where to TELL
the truth. the process CT reproduction, good as
a "a Is not half so ,,ell calculated TO do
Justice to Mr. Abbey as is the process employed
in these books Photogravure is almost ne
cessity for him II being the only process tha'
can reproduce tie feathery strokes Of his pen
without disntegrating them and destroying
half their value. We have little fault to ma
with the drawings as they now stand-inn@eo
the bulk OF the work is right and artistic, gooo
draughtsmanshp and good painter-hKe WORK
Mr. Abbey is always pa!nter-like. as the best
linear craftsmen always are. That Is. he uses
line with peculiar felicity. following with 1t
numberiess nuances Of expression ano struc'-
ure: but il Is. in the long run. the servant
OF his art as q designer. as maker Of pictures
with full. rounded significance. a very simple
Mate from AS You Like It." in the first vol
TINE supplies Us with an apt example. 1t de-
pic,s Rosalind and Celia standing hand in hand.
with Orlando few feet away. There Is no
background save that which the white paper
Affords This concentrates attention upon the
skill with which Mr.. Abbey has handled the
lines IN his figures. the dizziness with which ne
has modelled the limbs. shown the flow OF
drapery. revealed the contour OF head II is
interesting to note this one side Of the picture
alone. But II is in just such picture as this
that our artist shows his employment Of line
as vehicle OF expression. his intense and eff
fective feeling for the idea he has to express.
The final charm OF the picture Is It's abusive
ress. It's happy seizure of what is concrete. pic
torial IN the scene selected its animation as e
composed. created thing its successful repe.i-
ton. In a word. Of the group which rises in the
mind on contact with the text. Mr. Abbey
gives you three things in each of his illustra-
tions-the sensuous beauty OF good drawing.
the more intellectual delight of design in
which symmetry and originality meet without
de.rlment TO either quality. and the magma
from n
drenched in the spirit Of the author illustrated
To say that every one Of Mr.. Abbey's per-
eonages is the ideal embodiment In art o:
what every one knows Is infinitely various in
literature would be 10 consider very curiOusly,
TOO curiously altogether. PortiG. Rosalind.
JaQues. Trinculo. and so on through the whole
imperial line who has ever found his portraits
OF them agreeing with the portraits imagined
by his friend? And It is really not too lenient
. judgment which freely grants Mr.. Abbey his
various types For they really types. He
may not please you but he is bound 10 interest
you. and In this lies. perhaps the most precious
power OF these many illustrations. They re-
mind you at once % how coloress. the
whole. the previous illustrators have been, now
conventional and un-Shakespearian. Mr. Alb
hey seems to have gone TO work in the spirit
OF a modern actor, OF an actor like Mr. Irving.
He puts dress. accessories. landscape, archi-
lecture. furnishings OF every sort on a basis
which makes the preservation Of the unities a
natural. spontaneous and solid thing. He
proves that archaeology is not ma tier Of dry
bones and dust. but a living art with the help
OF which you can make scene alive. His
characters move easily spifitedly. through his
illustrations; first. because he has put blood
into their veins. but almost as much because
he has put them in clothes Of their own epoch.
fitted those garments to their backs and set
the people down amid the walls and the useful
objects Of the time in which they lived.
All this is very far from the real pump and
washtub' theory. The motive is the important
element the spirit of the work and what Mr..
Abbey plainly aims at is not bald accuracy OF
detail but a generally truthful reproduction Of
h. oh a..