The New York herald., 1922-08-06

company.
"HE history of shakespearean
publication has shown the
growth of the opinion that the
bard should step down from the re-
mote grandeur of the library shelf
to the coziness of the pocket of the
man in the street. These volumes are
eminently compapionable. You can
tuck them into a suitcase or lunch
basket: you can even even wedge
them into a knapsack without an un-
comfortable bulge. Flexible in cover
as well as small in size. they have
the additional merit of being form
fitting-they will rest as snugly in
your hip pocket as the latest flask;
You could sit down on one in the
subway if worse came to worst,
without either party suffering from
the experience. They can accompany
you to hammock or to hummock, to
rostrum or to Pullman. The thirty
nine cheerful volumes are light and
easy TO handle. are clearly typed,
have notes carefully and compactly
corraied at the end where they will
be neither in nor out of the way;
are charmingly bound in red leyant
and gilt stamped with Tudor shield
and gilt topped. The frontispiece of
each adds TO its air of friendly ele-
gance. The subjects range from por-
traits of the author and his contem-
poraries to actors. ancient and mod
ern. in their most famous Shakes
pearean roles; from cuts of Eliza
bethan London TO present day STRAIT
ford.
The text follows Prof. Nelson's
earlier edition for the Cambridge
Poets Series. 1t is sensibly based
upon either quarto or first folio,
according to the merits of each.
Aiming primarily toward the .produc-
ton of a mechanically perfect copy,
IL. repunctuates in the modern man
ner. The excellence of new
Shakespeare text must now consist
wholly in such minor improvements.
The reviewer wishes that the present
editors had modernized further. If
Shakespeare is punctuated in modern
fashion for the sake of clearness why
not furnish him with new stage
directions. modernized where these
already exist and inserted where
they do not? Biron climbs into a
tree when he hides from his COM
panions in Loves Labour Lost" for
he speaks later of sitting there and
watching from above the duplicity
of his friends: the King in the same
scene hides behind a bush or a hedge
and says so. Why go on employ
ing the vague and colorless stage
direction stands aside" for both
these illuminating actions? But the
sanotified habit of laying no hand
much worse results than forfeiting
liveliness and concreteness. 1t often
succeeds in making a scene unintelli-
gible to the reader who lacks the dis
position to puzzle over it or the abil-
ity to visualize it. When in The
Tempest" Ferdinand is lured toward
the entrance to the cave-with
Ferdinand without and Prospero and
Miranda within-the average reader
is at a loss TO understand what hap
pens. The two look out and see him
while he does not see them. Pros
pero calls his daughters attention
to the young prince: she comes out
of the cave and speaks TO him.
Prospcro joins her apparently a mo-
ment later. These various move
ments are all necessary to the COM
prehension OF the scene. yet there is
never word of stage direction; the
text reads right long. 1t has always
seemed curious to the present re-
viewer that in the progressive trend
of making Shakespeare easy reading
he has not been thoroughly over
hauled in the matter of stage direc-
tions. Is ii sacrilegious?
The thirty mine volumes, generally
edited by Prof. Nelson and Thorn
dividual editors. representative schol-