Shakespeare Weekend
Working our way through the Shakespeare Collection, our next stop is The Plays of Shakespeare edited and annotated by Charles (1787-1877) and Mary Cowden Clarke (1809-1898) and illustrated by H.C. Selous (1803-1890). The collection was published by Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., likely in the mid to late 1860s and consists of three volumes each arranging the plays into comedies, histories, and tragedies.
Scholarly English authors Charles and Mary Cowden Clark refer to the collection as the “People’s Edition” stating their intention for the work to be read within the household and among family circles. Keeping young readers in mind, the plays are annotated for a novice Shakespearean audience and Titus Andronicus is omitted from the collection due to its “grossness”. Additionally, the collection is heavily illustrated by Selous with wood engravings, providing valuable imagery for those unfamiliar with Shakespeare’s plays.
Volume One contains all of Shakespeare’s comedies and opens with a full-page frontispiece of the author.
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-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern
