Book Description

Excerpt from Mr. William Shakespeare: Original and Early Editions of His Quartos and Folios, His Source Books and Those Containing Contemporary Notices The Exhibition of which this is the catalogue was made possible by the generosity of a number of collectors of New York and other places in the United States. Their cooperation has resulted in this remarkable collection of Shake-speareana. The British Museum owns the best single collection of the kind, but it has not all of the books presented here, nor can it bring together for a loan exhibition such a collection as this. The reason is that nearly all the important collections of Shakespeare's works in England are in public institutions and cannot be lent to form one exhibition. The introduction to the Census of Shakespeare's Plays in Quarto mentions the difference in ownership and location of Shakespeare's works in England and in America. In England Shakespeare's works are chiefly in public collections where they may be examined by the student, but may not be withdrawn for exhibition or study elsewhere. In America they are chiefly in the libraries of private collectors whose generosity affords opportunities for the public like the present one. Unfortunately, there are in America but three public collections which contain Shakespeare's works of sufficient value to form the basis of an exhibition. These are in the Boston Public Library, which contains the Barton Collection, in the Elizabethan Club of Yale University, with its famous Huth quartos, and in The New York Public Library, with its Lenox Collection. The Lenox Collection is the basis of this exhibition. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.