New-York tribune., 1901-08-03
THE SHAKESPEARE REPRINT.
A PROTEST AGAINST LIMITED EDITION.


From The London Daily News.
We are rather sorry TO see that the Claren-
don Press have decided to set a strict limit
the edition of their forthcoming facsimile of
the most interesting and valuable book in the
whole range of English literature" as Mr..
Sidney Lee has justly called the First Folio
Shakespeare. AS Wordsworth said of joy, such
a facsimile should be lin widest commonalty
spread" and the Clarendon Press is above the
arts OF the common publisher who hopes TO see
corners made in his editions. No doubt, it is
impossible to grumble al the price, which ls
fixed for subscribers at five guineas in boards
and six in calf binding The facsimile brought
out in 1864 under the superintendent of How
ard Staunton was announced at subscription
price of ITO, and only thousand copies were
printed. AS 1t then possible to buy an
actual copy of the Folio of 1623-slightly i'm
perfect-fOr f40 or ESQ. the price fixed by the
Clarendon Press can hardly be called eX-
cessive, though students would have been bet
ter pleased if an attempt had been made 10
increase the size of the edition sufficiently to
which Lionel Booth asked for his admirable re-
print of 1862. justly praised by the Cambridge
editors probably the most correct reprint
ever issued" OF course, the expense of pho
tographlc process is probably in excess OF that
Of mere reprinting and there can be no ques-
ton as to which is the more accurate. "The
camera cannot lie" at any rate. when no in
ducement is offered for it to do so, whereas
there are errors to be found even in the
prisingly exact work of Mr.. Booths COM
positors. To the student perfect accuracy is
needfu and the COllOtype process should leave
nOlHlilB 10 De desired III lnlS respect OHly We
do hope that the mistake of limiting the edition
unduly Will not speedily make the Clarendon
Press reproduction difficult to obtain is
nowadays that of StauntOn.
1t is true, no doubt, that the public demand
for such book is not likely to be very great.
II will chiefly be bought by public libraries
which cannot afford a real First Folio and by
textual students who need the book for pur-
poses of comparison. Not many lovers of
books would choose a First Folio. real or
facsimile, for their reading of Shakespeare.
You cannot make pet book" said Lamb of
author whom everybody reads" on the
other hand. Horne ToOke thought II the only
edition OF Shakespeare were given literatim ac-
cordng TO the First Folio. for by the presumpt-
uous license of the dwarish commentators, who
forever cutting him down to their own
size. risk the loss of Shakespeare's genuine
text, which that Folio aSsuredly contains y
Nowadays are less confident of that than
were the editors. Heminge and CondelL They
assured the reader that they had collected
Shakespeares plays and taken care so to have
publsh'd them. where (before) you were
abus'd with diverse stolne and surreptitiOus
copies. MANNED. and deformed by the frauds
and stealthes OF injurious impOStors, that ex-
pos'd them: even those now Offerd to your
view cur'd and perfect of their limhes; and all
the rest absolute in their numbers, he con-
ceived them" II is clear enough. now that the
earlier quarto plays have been studied that
Heminge and Condell were not quite so truth
ful should have liked Shakespeare's 3
friends to show themselves They can hardly
have printed from the poets own unhlotted
manuscripts. and in many cases they clearly
made use of the earlier quartos which they con-
demned. Still. their edition is our sole authori-
" for nearly half the plays. and the first
collected Shakespeare II must ever be dear
Ito the great variety Of readers.