Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/65

 ii s. iv. JULY 15, Mil.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Shakespeare Bibliography : a Dictionary of every Known Issue of the Writings of our National Poet and of Recorded Opinion thereon in the English Language. By William Jaggard. With Historical Introduction, Fascimiles, Portraits', and other Illustrations. (Stratford- on -Avon, Shakespeare Press.)

THAT the work before us is one of heroic propor- tions, not to say Herculean labour, may be gathered from the mere perusal of the title above. Its extent may be further indicated by the fact that over 30,000 distinct entries and references are included, with " minute details and available locations of every known issue of Shakespeare's writings (whether written, printed, separate, collective, authentic, attributed, private, public, in or out of print) ; likewise of every tract, pamphlet, volume, or collection of Shakespearean comment ; of each analogue or source, with notes of the passages affected ; of every important contemporary or subsequent allusion to, or article on, the dramatist or his productions ; of each autograph, genuine or forged ; of all engraved Shakespeare portraits ; with market values of the rarer entries. Key-references are embodied to incidental Shakespearean actors, actresses, artists, attributes, bibliographers, bibliophiles, biographers, blind-type printings, celebrations, centenaries, clubs, collaborators, commemorations, commentators, composers, controversies, critics, editors, engravers, exhibitions, festivals, forgeries, illustrations (literary or pictorial), jubilees, managers, manuscripts, memorials, monuments, printers, prompters, pseudonyms, publishers, societies, theatres, translators, vellum-printings." The labour involved in such a scheme is enough to make one gasp. It deserves the adjective which Boswell italicized in consequence of Johnson'8 objection to it ; it is prodigious. Mr. Jaggard has, like his ancestors of the First Folio, connected his name indelibly with the greatest in our literature. The ' Historical Introduction ' gives details of previous workers in the same field, and tells us that Mr. .laggard's work was undertaken at the request of the fourth Earl of Warwick, and has cost him twenty-two years of effort, " chiefly in time ill-spared from rest and recreation." The results of this tireless investigation should be in every library of any importance, and it is good to think that an Englishman has done the work.

Ample cross-references are provided which facilitate easy reference, and a number of illus- trations of Shakespearians past and present, and scenes connected with the poet, are introduced throughout the text.

We have made a pretty thorough examination for books of all kinds concerning the subject, and in every case we have found a correct entry. Mr. Jaggard's brief notes are illuminating, as a rule, but occasionally they show his own personal opinions too strongly. Even the expert who has spent some years on the study of Shakespeare will find much here of which he did not know, and the chance of being able to assure oneself without delay concerning a doubt or a blurred memory is a great relief.

Our only regret is that there are but 500 copies to be had of this wonderful book. But it will

surely be reprinted, and we notice with pleasure that it contains an ' Aftermath ' of " additions and corrections while printing," which includes a list of the exhibition of " original documents of Shakespearian interest " at the Public Record Office in April, 1910.

Mr. Jaggard hopes to issue occasional supple- ments of a similar character, and will be grateful for the notification of omissions.

To give a brief idea of the scope of the work we may mention a few items which we have come across in looking through its pages. We find our own notice of Joseph Knight included ; and mentions of Shakespeare in Bagehot's Essays* Cobbett's ' Advice to Young Men,' Dryden's dedication of his translation of Juvenal, and F. W. Robertson's ' Life and Letters,' and of the Ireland forgeries in Watson's ' Life of Person.' Jebb's ' Translations into Greek and Latin Verse ** are noted as giving renderings from the poet.. This being so, ' The Person Prize Exercises (1817-71),' 1871 (Cambridge, E. Johnson; Lon- don, Hamilton, Adams & Co.), might have a place ;; for all but a few of the exercises are set from Shakespeare, who is, indeed, still the usual test author at Cambridge for Greek iambics.

Not only are books given, but also the places- where they are to be found hi various libraries and collections, and a conspectus of editions.. Thus twelve issues are noted of Abbott's ' Shake- spearian Grammar.' A specimen of items more loosely associated with the subject is the inscrip- tion on the tomb of Joyce, Lady Lucy, at Charle- cote Church, inserted as being " written by the baronet supposed to have been lampooned by Shakespeare." How wide is Mr. Jaggard's range is shown by the inclusion of ' Some Platitudes concerning the Drama,' an article by Mr. Gals- worthy in The Fortnightly Review for December, 1909, and other references to journalism of all kinds ; and five entries of Edward German's music.

Under ' Jahrbuch ' we are referred to that in- defatigable scholar Mrs. Stopes ; and this sug- gests that some foreign scholar might follow Mr. Jaggard's lead by making a bibliography of; Shakespeare on the Continent, or at any rate in France and Germany. We notice in the text Cohn's ' Shakespeare Bibliographic,' 1871-86 ; : but Mr. Jaggard's scheme obviously does not include foreign works and editions except u\ translations, and it would have been well to make this clear in the Prospectus, while the title- might expressly include America.

IN The National Review we are pleased to see- less of politics than usual, and more concerning art and letters. Mr. Austin Dobson in 'At Prior Park ' gossips very pleasantly and inform* ingly concerning Ralph Allen's residence and friends. The benevolence of the " Squire All- worthy " of ' Tom Jones ' was also commemorated by Pope, who introduced Warburton to Allen, a connexion by which the later Bishop did not fail to profit considerably. Lord Dunsany in ' Romance and the Modern Stage ' champions the cause of imagination, and makes a timely appeal against the claims of business and the commercial view. ' The Rejected of the Academy,' by " Callidus," suggests that " the sixteen galleries at Burlington House should be apportioned among the chief art societies of the kingdom, and ecash ociety should enjoy absolute