Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1897-04-20
SHAKESPEARE
The Increased Demand for His Plays,
Especially Among Women.


Although managers of theaters
will say that Shakespeare spells ruin,
the readers of Shakespeare have with
IN recent years increased by many
thousands. There is a constantly-in-
crcasing demand for the various an
notated editions of Shakespeare, es-
pecially of those cmbodying a single
play in each volume; and sets of
Shakespeare arc still favorne gifts
for Christmas and birthdays. Read
ing circles the country over, espe-
cially in the north and cast, are read
ing Shakespeare every winter, and
these and the secondary schools have
created demand for expurgated edi-
tions with notes.
Women make up large proportion
OF the new readers of Shakespeare.
With the increase of wealth in the
country has come an increase of lei
sure among women, ifnot among men,
and thousands of women whose
mothers found little time for anything
beyond household duties have taken
to reading and study, This is es-
pecially true of women in small cities
and even in villages, and the home
study, once chiefly confined to New
England, is spreading to nearly all
parts of the country These new stu
dents of literature, many of whom
have never seen a play acted upon
stage, are reading Shakespeare,
usually with the aid of notes, in APP
palling array. The sex of the read |
ers determines the special popularity |
of particular plays. "The Merchant |
of Venice" is perhaps more read in
the single-play volumes than any
other, though Julius Caesar" be-
cause of its having been made spe-
cial subject of study in secondary |
schools, is much in demand. GAS
You Like It," "The Midsummer
Nights Dream" "The Tempest" |
''Twelfth Night" winters Tale |
and 'Much Ado About Nothing" are
sold by the thousands to the new
students of Shakespeare. This list in
cludes the comedies most familiar |
to the stage. There is sometimes
demand for single plays when such |
playsare on the boards. The comedies
far outsell the tragedies. Of the lat
ter Hamlet" as being generally held |
the greatest, is more in demand than |
any other Perhaps "Othello" or
Romeo and Juliet comes next.
There is little demand for the his
tories, and that Falstaff is under
valued by the feminine readers of |
Shakespeare is shown by the fact that |
Henry ~" is rather less widely read |
than several other of the histories. |
Neither is there any special demand |
Tor the 'Merry Wives of Windsor"
The plays least called for are cloves
Labor Lost" "Titus Andronicus"
and "Pericles, Princeof Tyre" ''Meas-
lTe for Measure" is not much read by
lhe feminine admirers of Shakespeare.
"Cymbeline" is neglected in the sim
gle-play editions. SO, too, is "Coriol-
anus"
The most popular plays are sold by |
thousands where others sell only by
tens. So well is this recognized, in
deed, that few of the so-called sets of
Shakespeare intended for students in
elude the least popular plays and,
many as are the editions containing
a single play in each volume, and es-
pecially designed to meet the new de-
mand, there are only one or two edi-
lions that are at once expurgated and
complete as to the number of plays.
So strong is the demand for annotated
plays that a popular new edition, at
first issued without notes, is here
after to be annotated. Here is an
other evidence that the demand
comes, not from old lovers of Shakes
peare familiar with his text and at
ease with its difficulties, but from the
new students, the modern women of
leisure.
The demand is mainly for editions
IN cheap binding, and paper-bound
plays as low as ten cents volume are
sold, though the annotated editions
in cheapest form are usually consid-
erably higher in price than this. A t
full set of Shakespeare, one play to |
the volume, may be had in substantial {
for $12 or SIS, and editions s
of this kind, bound in leather, are I
selling occasionally at as much as 1925 !
q set-N. Y. Sun. c