University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1916-04-23
BY A. H. r. FAIRCHILD
Professor of English

the light in quarto and folio form.
The quartos, each volume containing
a single play, were so called from the
size of a page obtained by folding a
printers sheet of standard sizo
twice; the folios, volumes of the COL
lected plays of Shakespeare, were so
called from the size of page OBJ
tanned by folding a printers sheet Of
standard size once. The story of how
these plays, printed in quarto and
folio form, first saw the light, is one
of unscrupulousness. ON the one hand,
and of friendship, perhaps even o,
literary appreciation, on the other. 1t
is a story, too, in which Shakespeare
has no personal part. Not one Jot or
title of evidence remains TO prove that
Shakespeare was ever responsible for
the printing of any Of his plays. or
that a play in his writing ever reach
ed the printers hand. OF that total
bulk of Shakespeare's work, consist
ing of almost forty plays, group of
sonnets, and several other poems. only
two-the narrative poems Venus and
Adonis" and "Lucrece"-were pub
lished with the sanction and co-opera-
tion of the author.
4 Bit OF Irony.
It is the quartos, the earliest print
ed form in which any of Shakespeare's
plays appeared, that were obtained by
INSCRIPTIONS means. By one of those
strange bits of irony in life that makes
the evil of one age the blessing of an
other. there were men in Shake
speare's day who. like Lear in his
treatment of COrdelia, did Shakes
peare and humanity a blessing against
their will; at least, they did it un-
Willingly. Printers of the day, OBJ
tanning copies Of plays surreptitiously, |
and engaging in piratical ventures, |
have preserved for us texts of some of
Shakespeare's plays that would other |
wise almost assuredly have been lost. |
these are lHt uudl lOS- olOCh III II duc 1
for the printers. readily salable in
those cases particularly where an
authors name like Shakepeare's was |
favorably regarded, copies of plays |
were yet hard to obtain. Conditions |
of the time were indeed sorely against !
the printers. In that day, plays were |
written to be acted, not to be read. /,
They were regarded not as literature,
but as material for acting. Share
holders in the theaters. even writer's |
of plays themselves. looked upon the /
printing of a play, tending as it did to
reduce attendance and receipts at the
theater, as injurious to their inter-
ests. Under ordinary circumstances,
dramatists who had a play presented
on the stage, and had it printed too,
were regarded as guilty of double
dealing.
Printers, accordingly, regarded
themselves as driven to irregular
methods in order to obtain their ma
terial. There was no copyright law;
and apparently there was little honor
among publishers. They took what
they could lay their hands on, pub
lished what they wished, and neither
author nor owner of a manuscript had
any redress. Copies of plays were
usually made for actors and for
patrons. The usual method was for
a printer to buy from AN actor a copy
of play that had been furnished him
by the manager of the company. A
case is on record where, in 1908, the
shareholders of the Whitefriars Thea
ter imposed a penalty of some two
hundred dollars and the forfeiture OF
their places on actors who had sold
plays to printers. MarSton, in 1904,
sent his play 'The Malcontent" to the
press to protect himself from just this
kind of publishers piracy; for copies
SO obtained, abbreviated and recast as 4;
they frequently were by stage manag-
ers, often were as far from represent .
ing the authors original text as they
were from satisfying his injured feel (
ings.
Shorthand Used for Literary Theft.
Copies of single plays. subsequent s
ly printed in quarto form, were also :
obtained surreptitiously at the thea .
tres, by taking them down in short
hand In 1888, just few years before
Shakespeare began his dramatic {
career in London. Timothy Bright in
vented a system of shorthand that be- {
came very popular; and Shakespeare. !
in common with other dramtists, be- I
came subject 10 a further form of {
literary theft. As they had no redress, s
so authors had no control over these :
highly irregular means OF obtaining I
their plays and putting them into I
print Copies so obtained were !
naturally very imperfect, more i'm