DOCSLIB.ORG

Shakespearean Character and Cultural Change in the Eighteenth Century Amanda Cockburn, Department of Engl

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Shakespearean Character and Cultural Change in the Eighteenth Century Amanda Cockburn, Department of Engl “Magical Glasses”: Shakespearean Character and Cultural Change in the Eighteenth Century Amanda Cockburn, Department of English, McGill University, Montreal October 2011 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) © Amanda Cockburn, 2011 Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the exceptional guidance provided by my two supervisors, Paul Yachnin and Fiona Ritchie. Paul Yachnin’s enthusiasm for this project always put wind in my sails. I invariably left our meetings with a clearer vision of my own argument, thanks to Paul’s ability to help me untangle or articulate an idea with which I’d been struggling. I also left our meetings and took from our email exchanges a renewed determination and energy with which to approach my research. I am especially grateful for such a kind and generous mentor during my intellectual growth at McGill. I am also grateful for Fiona’s expertise in shaping this dissertation. Her knowledge of the field struck me many times as dauntingly encyclopedic, and I am indebted to her learning and indispensible feedback. I thank her for consistently pointing me to articles and books that proved invaluable to the development of my argument. I also must thank both Paul and Fiona for their extraordinarily perceptive and meticulous editing. I likewise thank members of the Shakespeare and Performance Research Team at McGill University, especially Michael Bristol for our conversations about Shakespeare and moral philosophy, and Wes Folkerth, whose graduate class on Shakespearean Character helped form the initial idea for this project. I am also deeply indebted to SPRITE for sending me twice to the Folger Shakespeare Library, that wonderful treasure trove, where I whet my appetite for archival work and afternoon tea. I also thank the Huntington Library for a research fellowship, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for a Canadian Graduate Scholarship, both of which helped make this dissertation possible. I extend my gratitude to all those friends and colleagues who offered encouragement and discussed my project with me, and I especially thank those who read drafts of my work, including Tara MacDonald, Robin Feenstra, Asa Boxer and Katie Harding-La. I particularly wish to thank the indispensible Jessica Riddell, whose feedback was invaluable and because she edited my introduction on her honeymoon. Most of all, I am deeply indebted to my parents, Michael and Ann Cockburn, for their endless support and for always warmly inviting me back into their cozy home for productive writing sessionsthank you! Abstract This dissertation explores the preoccupation with Shakespearean character in the middle to late eighteenth century. I argue that Shakespeare’s art of characterization participated in shaping British culture and identity in this period. Recent scholarship on the history of Shakespeare’s reception has concentrated on the appropriation of Shakespeare in the eighteenth century to demonstrate how his plays served ideological purposes, such as nationalism, imperialism, and bourgeois ideals of the autonomous subject. While such studies offer a valuable account of Shakespeare’s promotion to canonical status, the focus on the historically contingent and socially invested readings of his works overstates the determined or constructed nature of literary meaning. I show that while eighteenth-century audiences sometimes interpreted Shakespeare to suit the values of their day, the complexity of his drama resisted easy appropriation and was formative of culture itself. A dialogic approach thus underpins my investigation of how Shakespeare’s art of characterization raised questions and engaged audiences in a culturally productive way. Onstage and in the world of print, Shakespeare’s characters were often scrutinized and examined as though they were real people. They took part in a mimetic moral exercise that helped people navigate the uncertain atmosphere of a modern commercial world. To understand the eighteenth-century engagement with Shakespearean character more fully and historically, I argue for the importance of the relationship between the transformation of the social order and aesthetic discourse in this period. Chapter one examines how major shifts in social structures resulted in the blurred boundaries of private and public paradigms. The interplay of private and public characterized the social order of the era and complicated ideas about morality and identity formation. This introductory chapter brings into focus anxieties about a newly commercialized public culture and the entertainment industry’s potential either to cultivate or corrupt morality. It also highlights how aesthetic discourse emphasized the function of art in shaping conscientious citizens, and establishes the importance of aesthetic concepts, such as taste, the sympathetic imagination, and moral spectatorship in shaping the reception of Shakespearean character. Following this, I explore how reading and theatrical audiences productively interacted with Shakespearean characters: by using Shakespeare’s characters as speculative tools that provided insight into human nature, readers and audiences sought to understand identity formation and morality as it occurred across shifting boundaries of private and public life. To demonstrate the culturally productive nature of Shakespeare’s plays, my discussion engages with a broad range of material. Examples include Samuel Johnson’s Preface and notes in his edition of Shakespeare’s plays, works by Elizabeth Montagu, Elizabeth Griffith, William Richardson and Maurice Morgann, theatre reviews and acting treatises. At the same time, I underscore how creative new modes of literary and theatrical entertainment evolved from this focus on character. Examples include the theatrical criticism of Joanna Baillie, a broad range of innovative responses that remove characters from the confines of plot, the autobiography of George Anne Bellamy, and David Garrick’s enterprising introduction of Shakespearean characters to fashionable forms of performance, such as pantomime. I conclude with a focused investigation of various treatments of Falstaff to highlight the resistance of Shakespeare’s art to easy ideological appropriation. My approach to reading eighteenth-century Shakespeare criticism is within the broader framework of the role and reception of literature in eighteenth-century society. Overall, this project explores the impact of Shakespeare’s works in forming eighteenth-century culture and the role of aesthetic discourse in elevating Shakespeare to canonical status. Resumé Cette thèse a pour objet l’étude des préoccupations entourant les personnages shakespeariens au milieu et jusqu’à la fin du dix-huitième siècle. Je soutiens que l’art de la caractérisation chez Shakespeare a influencé le développement de la culture et de l’identité britannique de cette époque. Les recherches récentes sur l’accueil réservé aux œuvres de Shakespeare à travers l’histoire portent principalement sur l’appropriation des œuvres shakespeariennes au dix-huitième siècle pour montrer comment elles servaient à des fins idéologiques comme le nationalisme, l’impérialisme et les idéaux bourgeois du sujet autonome. Il est vrai que ces études décrivent bien l’ascension de Shakespeare vers son statut canonique, mais elles sont basées sur des lectures influencées par des contingences historiques ou des significations sociales, ce qui tend à exagérer le sens littéraire déterminé ou attribué. Je démontre que même s’il arrivait que public d’interprète parfois les œuvres en fonction des valeurs de l’époque, la complexité des pièces shakespeariennes était telle qu’elles pouvaient résister à une appropriation facile et même contribuer à l’enrichissement de la culture. Par une approche dialogique, cette thèse démontre comment l’art de la caractérisation chez Shakespeare soulevait des questions et retenait l’intérêt du public d’une manière qui favorisait le développement de la culture. Autant sur scène que dans la littérature imprimée, les personnages de Shakespeare étaient souvent été analysés comme s’ils étaient de vraies personnes. Les gens imaginaient ces personnages dans des exercices moraux mimétiques par lesquels ils pouvaient mieux se situer dans l’atmosphère incertaine d’un monde commercial moderne. Pour expliquer de façon exhaustive et d’un point de vue historique pourquoi les personnages shakespeariens suscitaient autant d’intérêt au dix-huitième siècle, je présente des arguments pour souligner l’importance de la relation entre la transformation de l’ordre social établi et le discours esthétique de l’époque. Le chapitre un examine comment les bouleversements dans les structures sociales ont brouillé la démarcation entre les paradigmes privé et public et comment cette interaction entre le privé et le public a caractérisé l’ordre social de l’époque en plus de rendre plus de complexifier les notions de moralité et de formation de l’identité. Ce chapitre d’introduction met en évidence les craintes ressenties face à une nouvelle culture publique commercialisée et face à une industrie du spectacle avec assez d’influence pour promouvoir ou corrompre la moralité. Le premier chapitre explique d’abord comment le discours esthétique a révélé que l’art contribuait à la conscientisation des citoyens et explique ensuite à quel point des concepts esthétiques comme le goût, l’imagination sympathique et les différentes visions de la moralité ont influencé l’accueil
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 87 Hemingway, S. B. (Ed.), Henry IV, Part 1 (New Variorum Shake
    87 Texts Hemingway, S. B. (ed.), Henry IV, Part 1 (New Variorum Shake­ speare, Philadelphia and London, 1936). Shaaber, Matthias A. (ed.), Henry IV, Part 2 (New Variorum Shakespeare, Philadelphia and London, 1940). Humphreys, A. R. (ed.), Henry IV, Part 1 (Arden Shakespeare, London, 1960). Humphreys, A. R. (ed.), Henry IV, Part 2 (Arden Shakespeare, London, 1966). Davison, P. H. (ed.), Henry IV, Part 1 (New Penguin Shakespeare, Harmondsworth, 1968). Davison, P. H. (ed.), Henry IV, Part 2 (New Penguin Shakespeare, Harmondsworth, 1977). Mack, Maynard (ed.), Henry IV, Part 1 (Signet Shakespeare, New York, 1965, 1987). Holland, Norman L. (ed.), Henry IV, Part 2 (Signet Shakespeare, New York, 1965). Bevington, David (ed.), Henry IV, Part 1 (Oxford Shakespeare, Oxford, 1987). Melchiori, Giorgio (ed.), Henry IV, Part 2 (Oxford Shakespeare, Oxford, 1989). The New Variorum Shakespeare editions are monumental works of scholarship for reference only. All the remaining editions cater for students' needs with critical introductions, notes, sources and so on. Long established with footnotes that are easily used, the Arden edition has always been very popular. The Signet and Penguin editions have made their mark and are quite economical. The recent Oxford editions have excellent illustrations and are strong on stage history. 88 Bibliographies, Guides and Surveys Bergeron, David M., and De Sousa, Geraldo U., Shakespeare: A Study and Research Guide (Lawrence, Kansas, 1987). Berry, Edward, 'Twentieth-century Shakespeare criticism: the his­ tories' in Stanley Wells (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies (Cambridge, 1986). Burden, Dennis H., 'Shakespeare's History Plays: 1952-1983', Shakespeare Survey 38, 1985, pp. 1-18.
    [Show full text]
  • William Herle's Report of the Dutch Situation, 1573
    LIVES AND LETTERS, VOL. 1, NO. 1, SPRING 2009 Signs of Intelligence: William Herle’s Report of the Dutch Situation, 1573 On the 11 June 1573 the agent William Herle sent his patron William Cecil, Lord Burghley a lengthy intelligence report of a ‘Discourse’ held with Prince William of Orange, Stadtholder of the Netherlands.∗ Running to fourteen folio manuscript pages, the Discourse records the substance of numerous conversations between Herle and Orange and details Orange’s efforts to persuade Queen Elizabeth to come to the aid of the Dutch against Spanish Habsburg imperial rule. The main thrust of the document exhorts Elizabeth to accept the sovereignty of the Low Countries in order to protect England’s naval interests and lead a league of protestant European rulers against Spain. This essay explores the circumstances surrounding the occasion of the Discourse and the context of the text within Herle’s larger corpus of correspondence. In the process, I will consider the methods by which the study of the material features of manuscripts can lead to a wider consideration of early modern political, secretarial and archival practices. THE CONTEXT By the spring of 1573 the insurrection in the Netherlands against Spanish rule was seven years old. Elizabeth had withdrawn her covert support for the English volunteers aiding the Dutch rebels, and was busy entertaining thoughts of marriage with Henri, Duc d’Alençon, brother to the King of France. Rejecting the idea of French assistance after the massacre of protestants on St Bartholomew’s day in Paris the previous year, William of Orange was considering approaching the protestant rulers of Europe, mostly German Lutheran sovereigns, to form a strong alliance against Spanish Catholic hegemony.
    [Show full text]
  • ROMANTIC CRITICISM of SHAKESPEARIAN DRAMA By
    ROMANTIC CRITICISM OF SHAKESPEARIAN DRAMA By JOHN g,RAWFORD Associate of Arts Texarkana College Texarkana, Texas 1956 Bachelor of Science in Education Ouachita Baptist University Arkadelphia, Arkansas 1959 Master of Science in Education Drake University Des Moines, Iowa 1962 Submitted to the faculty of .the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION May, 1968 OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY OCT 24 1968 ROMANTIC CRITICISM OF SHAKESPEARIAN DRAMA Thesis Approved: Thesis Adviser \ f ,A .. < \ Dean of the Graduate College ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I should like to· thank anumber·of people who helped me in many different ways during· the·preparation· of .this dissertation, notably Dr. David· S. Berkeley,·major adviser, who-lent words of encouragement, guidance, understanding, and patience; but also my committee members, Dr. Darrel Ray·, Pr~ Judson Milburn, and· .Dr~- Loyd Douglas; and. the Oklahoma State University library staff, especially Miss Helen Donart and Mrs • .:fosephine Monk. iii TABLE-OF CONTENTS Chap tel' Page. I. INTRODUCTION •••• 1 II. HAMLET .••• . ' . .. ... 29 III. ANTONY -~ CLEOPATRA • • • • . • • . • • • It • . • • . • .• • a1 ·IV. HENRYV· . ,. ". .• . 122 V. THE· MERCHANT ·QE. VENICE .- . "' . 153 VI. CONCLUSION • • ' . -. ,. 187 BIBLIOGRAPHY • • • • · • . .. 191 iv CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Of all the so-called schools of Shakespearian criticism, the Romantic has been and continues to be one of the most influential. Per- haps this is true merely because of the impor~ance which the Romantic School places upon the genius of the subj~ct, for all schools of criti- cism recognize Shakespeare's ability at creating effective drama. A more accurate answer, however, probably lies in the fact that "romanti- cism" has a broad base and encompasses so very much.
    [Show full text]
  • Sources of Lear
    Meddling with Masterpieces: the On-going Adaptation of King Lear by Lynne Bradley B.A., Queen’s University 1997 M.A., Queen’s University 1998 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of English © Lynne Bradley, 2008 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photo-copying or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Meddling with Masterpieces: the On-going Adaptation of King Lear by Lynne Bradley B.A., Queen’s University 1997 M.A., Queen’s University 1998 Supervisory Committee Dr. Sheila M. Rabillard, Supervisor (Department of English) Dr. Janelle Jenstad, Departmental Member (Department of English) Dr. Michael Best, Departmental Member (Department of English) Dr. Annalee Lepp, Outside Member (Department of Women’s Studies) iii Supervisory Committee Dr. Sheila M. Rabillard, Supervisor (Department of English) Dr. Janelle Jenstad, Departmental Member (Department of English) Dr. Michael Best, Departmental Member (Department of English) Dr. Annalee Lepp, Outside Member (Department of Women’s Studies) Abstract The temptation to meddle with Shakespeare has proven irresistible to playwrights since the Restoration and has inspired some of the most reviled and most respected works of theatre. Nahum Tate’s tragic-comic King Lear (1681) was described as an execrable piece of dementation, but played on London stages for one hundred and fifty years. David Garrick was equally tempted to adapt King Lear in the eighteenth century, as were the burlesque playwrights of the nineteenth. In the twentieth century, the meddling continued with works like King Lear’s Wife (1913) by Gordon Bottomley and Dead Letters (1910) by Maurice Baring.
    [Show full text]
  • Romeo Y Julieta 1 Romeo Y Julieta
    Romeo y Julieta 1 Romeo y Julieta Romeo y Julieta Representación de la famosa escena del balcón de Romeo y Julieta. Pintura de 1884, por Frank Dicksee. Autor William Shakespeare Género Tragedia Tema(s) Amor prohibido Idioma Inglés [1] Título original The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet País Inglaterra Fecha de publicación 1597 (Q1) 1599 (Q2) 1609 (Q3) 1622 (Q4) 1637 (Q5) Formato En cuarto[d] Romeo y Julieta (1597) es una tragedia de William Shakespeare. Cuenta la historia de dos jóvenes enamorados que, a pesar de la oposición de sus familias, rivales entre sí, deciden luchar por su amor hasta el punto de casarse de forma clandestina; sin embargo, la presión de esa rivalidad y una serie de fatalidades conducen al suicidio de los dos amantes. Esta relación entre sus protagonistas los ha convertido en el arquetipo de los llamados star-crossed lovers.[2] [a] Se trata de una de las obras más populares del autor inglés y, junto a Hamlet y Macbeth, la que más veces ha sido representada. Aunque la historia forma parte de una larga tradición de romances trágicos que se remontan a la antigüedad, el argumento está basado en la traducción inglesa (The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet, 1562) de un cuento italiano de Mateo Bandello, realizada por Arthur Brooke, que se basó en la traducción francesa hecha por Pierre Boaistuau en 1559. Por su parte, en 1582, William Painter realizó una versión en prosa a partir de relatos italianos y franceses, que fue publicada en la colección de historias Palace of Pleasure.
    [Show full text]
  • Annotator As Ordinary Reader Accuracy, Relevance, and Editorial Method
    Annotator as Ordinary Reader Accuracy, Relevance, and Editorial Method Michael Edson Abstract Like the notes in many eighteenth- and nineteenth-century editions of English poetry, Wil- liam Tooke’s explanatory annotations to the Poetical Works of Charles Churchill (1804) have been dismissed as inaccurate and irrelevant. Yet in drawing the bulk of his notes from newspapers and other popular print ephemera of Churchill’s lifetime (1732–64), Tooke (1777–1863) reveals both how Churchill fashioned his satires to appeal to periodical read- ers and how Churchill’s popularity depended on such readers seeking false or exaggerated rumors of celebrity scandal. In addition, by devaluing accuracy, authenticity, and relevance in their own selection of sources, Tooke’s notes raise questions about the place of accuracy and relevance in modern explanatory editing, suggesting that the emphasis on accuracy can sometimes lead to historically inaccurate readings. Inadequate seems too mild a word to describe how modern editors regard the printed notes in early poetry editions. Of William War- burton’s 1751 Works of Alexander Pope, Frederick Bateson observes, “the irrelevance and the verbosity” of the notes “must be read to be believed” (1951, xvi). Though infamous, Warburton’s notes are far from the only editorial explanations from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to offend. Zachary Grey’s 1744 explanatory notes to Samuel Butler’s Hudibras are “informative”, John Wilders admits, but Grey “could seldom resist the temptation to comment, even when he had little of relevance to say” (But- ler 1967, lx). Regarding the annotations to Thomas Evans’s 1779 Works of Matthew Prior, H.
    [Show full text]
  • © in This Web Service Cambridge University Press
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-88306-1 - The Cambridge History of English Poetry Edited by Michael O’Neill Index More information Index Abercrombie, Lascelles, on Romanticism 423 Alanus de Insulis, Liber Parabolorum 53 Ackroyd, Freda (Alun Lewis’smistress)867, 868 Albion Village Press 971 Acland, Henry 677 Aldhelm, St 16 Actaeon, myth of, Spenser’s use 152 Aldington, Richard 728, 787, 798 Adam, Milton’s presentation in Paradise Lost and Greek culture 804 265–6, 267 and Imagism 803 Adams, Barbara, on Laura Riding 898, 903 works Adams, Eddie (photographer) 829 ‘1915’ 804 Addison, Joseph 335, 383 ‘Choricos’ 796 Adlington, Richard, ‘In the Via Sistina’ 797 ‘To a Greek Marble’ 796 ‘advocacy’ texts 359 ‘Whitechapel’ 804 Advocates’ MS 19.2.1 (Auchinleck MS; Alexander, Michael 9, 24 National Library of Scotland alexandrines (Edinburgh)) 46 Auden’s use of 851 Aengus (Celtic bard) 768 Dowson’s use 699 Aeschylus Drayton’s use 163 works Emily Brontë’s use 637 Oresteia,influence on Shelley 533 Sidney’s use 158 Prometheus Bound 273, 620 Alice, Lady (child of Earl of Bridgewater), part aesthetic franchising 717 in Comus 240 Aesthetic Movement 649, 698 allegiance, complexities, addressed by Horace aestheticism 224 Dryden’s sense of 303 allegory Tennyson’s views 688 figural allegory 69 Yeats’s concerns with 779 personification allegory 69 ‘age of Chaucer’ 43 in Piers Plowman 68–72 agricultural revolution, importance for Clare’s Spenser’s Faerie Queen 146 writing 551 Allen, Lord (Irish politician attacked by Akenside, Mark Swift) 325 blank verse 381 Allen, Ralph (friend of Montagu) 366 composition 391 Allingham, William, on Tennyson and descriptions of nature 388 Keats 604 on God and nature 388 Allison, Drummond 859, 861 on nature 386 Aloes Books (publisher) 971 on sight 385 Alvarez, A.
    [Show full text]
  • Seeing the Sentiment: Eighteenth Century Theatrical Portraiture And
    Graduate Journal of Visual and Material Culture Issue 7 ｜2014 ! Seeing the Sentiment: Eighteenth-Century Theatrical Portraiture and Garrick’s Adaptation of Romeo and Juliet by Emily Leach ________________________________________________________ ! Abstract: Not only did the theatrical portraiture of the eighteenth cen- tury contribute to the creation of celebrity by depicting the most prom- inent actors and actresses of the day in the roles for which they were most famous, but it also preserved some of the period’s most iconic dramatic scenes. One such example is Benjamin Wilson’s popular 1753 print of David Garrick and George Anne Bellamy in Romeo and Juliet, which sold very well, and in fact can be purchased on t-shirts and coffee mugs to this day. In this print, Garrick and Bellamy are act- ing the famous tomb scene, one of Garrick’s own additions to Shake- speare’s original script. Through a study of Wilson’s famous print, along with the print, published by W. Herbert in 1753, of Henry Wood- ward as Mercutio reciting the “Queen Mab” speech, and William El- liot’s 1759 print of Spranger Barry and Maria Isabella Nossiter acting the famous balcony scene, my paper considers Garrick’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy and its relationship to the theatrical portraiture that came out of it, in order to ask how the portraits speak to the text and the performances which they were intended to repre- sent. Through a close reading of these three theatrical portraits along- side two earlier works, Charles Le Brun’s A Method to Design the Passions (1734) and John Weaver’s descriptions of theatrical ges- tures in The Loves of Mars and Venus (1717), my paper argues that the portraits affirm the desired increase in sentimentality that Garrick tried to effect within Romeo and Juliet through his adaptation.
    [Show full text]
  • Beowulf by All Community Translation and Workbook
    FOUNDATIONS Advisory Board Robert E. Bjork, Arizona State University Alessandra Bucossi, Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia Chris Jones, University of Canterbury / Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha Sharon Kinoshita, University of California, Santa Cruz Matthew Cheung Salisbury, University of Oxford FOR PRIVATE AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY BEOWULF BY ALL COMMUNITY TRANSLATION AND WORKBOOK Edited by JEAN ABBOTT, ELAINE TREHARNE, and MATEUSZ FAFINSKI British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. © 2021, Arc Humanities Press, Leeds This work is licensed under Creative Commons licence CC­BY­NC­ND 4.0. Permission to use brief excerpts from this work in scholarly and educational works is hereby The authors assert their moral right to be identified as the authors of their part of this work. granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is an exception or limitation covered by Article 5 of the European Union’s Copyright Directive (2001/29/EC) or would be determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act September 2010 Page 2 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copy­ right Act (17 USC §108, as revised by P.L. 94­553) does not require the Publisher’s permission. ISBN (hardback): 9781641894708 ISBN (paperback): 9781641894715 e­ISBN (PDF): 9781641894746 www.arc-humanities.org Printed and bound in the UK (by CPI Group [UK) Ltd), USA (by Bookmasters), and elsewhere using print-on-demand technology. FOR PRIVATE AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY CONTENTS Preface ....................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The British Museum Library
    CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029534934 C U">VerS,,y Ubrary Z792.B86 R25 olin THE BRITISH MUSEUM LIBRARY — THE BRITISH MUSEUM LIBRARY BY GERTRUDE BURFORD RAWLINGS Author of The Sti^~ f Books, The Story of the British Coinage " How to Know Them Editor i wke of the Knyght of the Towre \ f etc., etc. ilAFTON & CO., COPTIC HOUSE, LONDON W. WILSON CO., WHITE PLAINS, N. Y. 1916 1>I HH ATM) TO ALICE PERRIN th« unuiH run limited, edikhukgh GREAT MUTAIK PREFACE This essay traverses some of the ground covered by Edwards's Lives of the Founders of the British Museum, and. the Reading-room manuals of Sims and Nichols, all long out of print. But it has its own field, and adds a little here and there, I venture to hope, to the published history of our national library. It is not intended as a guide to the Reading- room. Lists of some of the official catalogues and other publications that form so distinguished a part of the work of the British Museum are appended for the convenience of students in general. The bibliography indicates the main sources to which I am indebted for material. Gertrude Burford Rawlings. CONTENTS CHAPTER TAGE I. Steps towards a National Library . 9 II. The Cottonian Library ... 19 III. Additions to the Cottonian Library . 39 IV. The Sloane Bequest ... 46 V. The Early Days of the British Museum • • • 55 VI.
    [Show full text]
  • The Royal Library As a Source for Sir Robert Cotton's Collection: a Preliminary List of Acquisitions
    THE ROYAL LIBRARY AS A SOURCE FOR SIR ROBERT COTTON'S COLLECTION: A PRELIMINARY LIST OF ACQUISITIONS JAMES P. CARLEY PUBLIC Record Office, Augmentation Office, Misc. Books i6o (E. 315/160), ff. iO7v-i2or, contains an alphabetical list of 910 books, printed and manuscript, found in the Upper Library at Westminster Palace in 1542.^ At approximately the same time the inventory was compiled, so it would appear, a number was entered into each book: this number corresponded to the place where the book occurred in the alphabetical sequences established by the list. Slightly afterwards, probably around 1550, more books came to Whitehall - presumably from Hampton Court and Greenwich - and these too were put into alphabetical order and an inventory number inserted.^ Somewhat later the printed and manuscript books were separated.^ The form of the inventory number inserted in each book is characteristic: it is always found on an upper recto corner of an early folio, and always takes the form 'No '. Most of the manuscripts found in the Upper Library at Westminster Palace, and it is manuscripts alone that I shall be discussing in this paper, were rescued from monastic houses at the time of the Dissolution^ and many have remained in the royal collection ever since. Not every title in the inventory, however, can be matched with a surviving royal book: indeed, approximately half disappeared at some point after 1542. The first major disruption, it would seem, must have occurred shortly after Henry VIII's death in 1547, in the period when Traheron, a radical evangehst, was librarian and when Edward VI's injunctions concerning the destruction of popish books were promulgated.'' Throughout Elizabeth's reign, too, books trickled out.
    [Show full text]
  • Group Sales Tickets
    SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY 21st Annual Table of Contents D.C.’s favorite Feature Letter from Michael Kahn 5 The Two Faces of Capital summer by Drew Lichtenberg 6 Program Synopsis 11 theatre event About the Playwright 13 Title Page 15 Cast 17 is back! Cast Biographies 18 PRESENTED BY Direction and Design Biographies 22 Shakespeare Theatre Company Tickets will be available Board of Trustees 8 online and in line! Shakespeare Theatre Company 26 Individual Support 28 Visit ShakespeareTheatre.org/FFA for more details on how to get your tickets via lottery Corporate Support 40 or at Sidney Harman Hall on the day of the Foundation and performance. Tickets for 2011–2012 Season Government Support 41 subscribers available through the Box Office Academy for Classical Acting 41 beginning July 5, 2011, at 10 a.m. For the Shakespeare Theatre Company 42 Join the Friends of Free Staff 44 JULIUS For All for tickets! Audience Services 50 Free For All would not be possible without Creative Conversations 50 CAESAR the hundreds of individuals who generously donate to support the program each year. “ Only with the help of the Friends of Free For All is STC able to offer free performances, All hail Julius Caesar! making Shakespeare accessible to … One of the best productions of this or any season.” Washington, D.C., area residents every summer. The Washingtonian In appreciation for this support, Friends of Free For All receive exclusive benefits during This Year's Production: the festival such as reserved Free For All tickets, the option to have tickets mailed in August 18–September 4 advance, special event invitations, program recognition and more.
    [Show full text]