#jacob tonson

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A Classic Tale of Tragic Romance

The play All for Love or the World Well Lost was penned in blank verse by English poet and playwright John Dryden (1631-1700) in 1677, a significant work for Dryden and a notable contribution to the genre of heroic tragedy, with many scholars considering it one of Dryden's finest works. Our copy is from an edition printed in London for Jacob and Richard Tonson in 1740 (although the handwritten information on the paper wrapper says 1750).

The play is an acknowledged reimagining of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, which focuses on the last hours of the lives of its hero and heroine’s tumultuous relationship. Set in Alexandria, Egypt, the play follows the tragic love story of Marc Antony and Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, as they struggle to overcome political intrigue, jealousy, betrayal, and their own personal demons. The play explores themes of love, honor, duty, and the struggle between reason and passion. Ultimately, the play ends with the tragic deaths of Antony and Cleopatra, who choose to die together rather than live apart. 

John Dryden was an accomplished English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright, and in 1668 became the first Poet Laureate of England. He stated that writing this play was his attempt to reinvigorate serious drama. Dryden's play, with its exploration of complex themes and its reimagining of a classic work, was a bold and innovative contribution to the theatrical landscape.

The Tonson publishing firm was a powerhouse of London publishing for nearly a century. It was founded in 1677 by Jacob Tonson the Elder (1655-1736), who formed a close association with Dryden, publishing much of his work in the final decade of Dryden's life. In 1709, Tonson secured the publication rights to Shakespeare's works, and a year later, in partnership with his nephew Jacob Tonson II (1682-1735), he moved his shop to Shakespeare's Head in the Strand. The Tonsons' signature emblem was a small woodcut image of the Bard, commonly found on their title pages as seen here. The Tonsons listed as the publishers of this booklet are the elder Tonson's great-nephews, Jacob Tonson III (1714–1767) and Richard Tonson (1717-1772), the last of the Tonson publishing clan.

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-Melissa, Special Collections Classics Intern

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The politeness they had in mind was different from what Shaftesbury maligned as 'Court-Politeness' – that 'dazzling' and 'corrupt' form of behaviour that had reached its height in the court of the Sun King but had also poisoned the Restoration court of Charles II, for all the royal indifference to French frippery and forms.  France, Shaftesbury insisted, was a modern-day Rome: decadent and in decline.  The future lay with a simpler, less adorned style of social interaction and an aesthetic that was 'above the modern turn & species of Grace, above the Dancing-Master, above the Actor & the Stage, above the other Masters of Exercise.'  The idea was to replace the decaying court with a new kind of moral authority, rooted in urban life and the freedoms of Britain's hard-won parliamentary system. To this end, Steele and Addison founded The Spectator in 1711.  It quickly became the most important journal of its time, and its essays were circulated and reprinted widely.  At a penny an issue, it was reasonably affordable and appealed to men and women of the elite and aspiring classes alike.  'Mr Spectator' was a representative 17th-century gentleman: born on a rural estate, he resided in London and spent his days debating standards of taste and style.  As a Frenchified ballet-master, John Weaver may have seemed an unlikely ally of the sober-minded Steele, but Weaver nonetheless managed to convince Steele that ballet was an invaluable civic tool – that its manners and graces were not necessarily effete and frilly but instead a form of politeness that might be turned to the cause of English civic propriety.  In 1712, Weaver published an open letter in The Spectator, introduced by Steele himself, in which he argued the merits of dancing as a high art, but above all as a vital tool 'of universal Benefit,' as he later put it, 'to all Lovers of Elegance and Politeness.'  That same year Tonson published Weaver's Essay Towards an History of Dancing.

Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet

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Shakespeare Weekend!

This weekend we return to Nicholas Rowe’s (1674-1718) The Work of Mr. William Shakespear; in Six Volumes. Published in London in 1709 by Jacob Tonson (1655-1736), perhaps the most prolific of Shakespeare publishers, this second edition holds an important place within Shakespearean publication history. The Work of Mr. William Shakespear; in Six Volumes is recognized as the first octavo edition, the first illustrated edition, the first critically edited edition, and the first to present a biography of the poet.  

This week, we introduce you to the second which consists of all comedies, including A Midsummer-Night's Dream, Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, Taming of the Shrew, All’s Well that Ends Well, Twelfth-Night; or What You Will, and The Winter’s Tale. A full-page engraving by the French Baroque artist and book illustrator François Boitard (1670-1715) precedes each play. 

In addition to Rowe’s editorial decisions to divide the plays into scenes and include notes on the entrances and exits of the players, he also normalised the spelling of names and included a dramatis personae preceding each play. The only chronicled critique of Rowe’s momentous editorial endeavor is his choice in basing his text on the corrupt Fourth Folio. 

Perhaps of interest to some of our readers is the exceptional use of signature marks and catchwords throughout the volumes of The Work of Mr. William Shakespear; in Six Volumes. Found on the bottom of the pages, the signature marks and catchwords helped the bookbinder or printer make sure the pages were sent to the press in the right order and that subsequent leaves were bound in the correct order. Signature marks through the use of a letter and number combination marking the first page of a leaf or section, and catchwords by way of anticipating the first word of the following page.  

View more volumes of The Works of Mr. William Shakespear; in Six Volumes here.

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-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern

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Shakespeare Weekend

We are halfway through Nicholas Rowe’s (1674-1718) The Work of Mr. William Shakespear; in Six Volumes! Published in London in 1709 by Jacob Tonson (1655–1736), this second edition holds an important place within Shakespearean publication history. The Work of Mr. William Shakespear; in Six Volumes is recognized as the first octavo edition, the first illustrated edition, the first critically edited edition, and the first to present a biography of the poet.  

This week, we explore the third volume of The Work of Mr. William Shakespear; in Six Volumes. The third volume encompasses historic plays including a Shakespearean Henriad depicting the rise of English kings. The volume is comprised of King John, King Richard II, Henry IV Part I, Henry IV Part II, King Henry V, King Henry VI Part I, and King Henry VI Part II. While the plays have recurring characters and settings, there is no evidence that they were written with the intention of being considered as a group. A full-page engraving, designed by the French Baroque artist and book illustrator François Boitard (1670-1715) and engraved by English engraver Elisha Kirkall (c.1682–1742), precedes each play. 

In addition to Rowe’s editorial decisions to divide the plays into scenes and include notes on the entrances and exits of the players, he also normalised the spelling of names and included a dramatis personae preceding each play. The only chronicled critique of Rowe’s momentous editorial endeavor is his choice in basing his text on the corrupt Fourth Folio. 

View more volumes of The Works of Mr. William Shakespear; in Six Volumes here.

View more Shakespeare Weekend posts.

-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern 

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Shakespeare Weekend

This weekend we return to The works of Mr. William Shakespear: in ten volumes with the fifth volume published in 1728 by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) and Dr. George Sewell (d. 1726) for Jacob Tonson. Volume Five is made up of King Henry VI Part I, King Henry VI Part II, King Henry VI Part III, and King Richard III. The four plays create a tetralogy that covers the entire saga of the Wars of the Roses, a series of 15th century civil wars fought to determine control of the English throne.  

King Henry VI Part I enacts the loss of England’s French territories and the political momentum spurring on the Wars of the Roses. Part II delves into King Henry’s failings and the rise of the Duke of York. Part III documents the chaos and horror of war and contains one of the longest soliloquies in all of Shakespeare. The volume ends with King Richard III depicting the violent rise and short reign of King Richard III.  

Like Rowe’s earlier collection, scene divisions, stage directions, dramatis personae, and full-page engravings by either French artist Louis Du Guernier (1677-1716) or Englishman Paul Fourdrinier (1698-1758) precede each play.  

Pope’s editions of Shakespeare were the first attempted to collate all previous publications. He consulted twenty-seven early quartos restoring passages that had been out of print for almost a century while simultaneously removing about 1,560 lines of material that didn’t appeal to him. Some of those lines were degraded to the bottom of the page with his other editorial notes.  

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-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern 

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Shakespeare Weekend!

Continuing our look at The works of Mr. William Shakespear: in ten volumes published in 1728 by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) and Dr. George Sewell (d. 1726) for Jacob Tonson (1655-1736), this weekend we pore over Volume Seven.

This volume contains the tragedies Antony and Cleopatra, Titus Andronicus, The Tragedy of Macbeth, and problem play Trolius and Cressida. All four plays were published in the First Folio, however Trolius and Cressida seems to have been haphazardly squeezed in on unnumbered pages between the histories and tragedies adding to its genre identification problems. In step with Shakespeare’s other problem plays, Trolius and Cressida’s ambiguous tone bounces around creating a montage of possible intents and leaves viewers puzzled about how to relate to the characters. 

The Tragedy of Macbeth is contemporarily known as a cursed play and superstitiously often referred to as The Scottish Play. Proposed origins of the curse are rumored in Shakespeare having used real witches’ spells in the text below angering witches who then cursed the play.

Like Rowe’s earlier collection, scene divisions, stage directions, dramatis personae, and full-page engravings by either French artist Louis Du Guernier (1677-1716) or Englishman Paul Fourdrinier (1698-1758) precede each play.  

Pope’s editions of Shakespeare were the first attempted to collate all previous publications. He consulted twenty-seven early quartos restoring passages that had been out of print for almost a century while simultaneously removing about 1,560 lines of material that didn’t appeal to him. Some of those lines were degraded to the bottom of the page with his other editorial notes.  

View more Shakespeare Weekend posts. 

-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern 

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Shakespeare Weekend

This weekend we are wrapping up Nicholas Rowe’s (1674-1718) The Work of Mr. William Shakespear; in Six Volumes. Published in London in 1709 by Jacob Tonson (1655–1736), this second edition holds an important place within Shakespearean publication history. The Work of Mr. William Shakespear; in Six Volumes is recognized as the first octavo edition, the first illustrated edition, the first critically edited edition, and the first to present a biography of the poet. 

Volume six is a collection of Shakespeare’s tragedies and comedies including several plays that are a part of the Shakespeare apocrypha that bear Shakespeare’s name, but do not appear in the First Folio and of which there is question about his role in writing them. Apocrypha in the sixth volume include Pericles Prince of Tyre, London Prodigal, Thomas Lord Cromwell, Sir John Oldcastle, The Puritan, A Yorkshire Tragedy, and Locrine. Volume six also includes confirmed Shakespearean plays Antony and Cleopatra and Cymbeline. 

A full-page engraving by the French Baroque artist and book illustrator François Boitard (1670-1715) and engraved by English engraver Elisha Kirkall (c.1682–1742) precedes each play. Boitard’s illustrations often place readers at the pinnacle of the plays depicting high drama in his classic Baroque style. 

In addition to Rowe’s editorial decisions to divide the plays into scenes and include notes on the entrances and exits of the players, he also normalised the spelling of names and included a dramatis personae preceding each play. The only chronicled critique of Rowe’s momentous editorial endeavor is his choice in basing his text on the corrupt Fourth Folio. 

View more volumes of The Works of Mr. William Shakespear; in Six Volumes here. 

View more Shakespeare Weekend posts. 

-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern 

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Shakespeare Weekend!

The next illustrated collection of Shakespeare from our holdings is the second edition of The Works of Mr. William Shakespear: In Ten Volumes published by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) and Dr. George Sewell (d. 1726) for Jacob Tonson (1655-1736). Pope’s second edition was published in eight volumes in 1728, followed by supplementary ninth and tenth volumes. Sewell is only credited within the tenth volume. 

Volume One includes a preface by Pope followed by Nicholas Rowe’s biographical essay Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear and a poem in memory of Shakespeare by English dramatist Ben Jonson (1572-1637). Plays contained within volume one include The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Measure for Measure. 

Pope’s editions of Shakespeare were the first attempted to collate all previous publications in order to help determine authorial text and regularize Shakespearean metre. He consulted twenty-seven early quartos restoring passages that had been out of print for almost a century. Pope also took liberties in removing about 1,560 lines of material that didn’t appeal to him. Some such lines were degraded to the bottom of the page with his other editorial notes. At the time, his editorial hand was met with some criticism and dismissal but historically it may be seen as one of the first scholarly approaches to Shakespeare.  

Pope followed in Rowe’s footsteps including scene divisions, stage directions, dramatis personae, and full-page engravings preceding each play. Volume One’s engravings are attributed to French artist Louis Du Guernier (1677-1716) and Englishman Paul Fourdrinier (1698-1758). Dedicated readers of Shakespeare Weekend may notice some of the engravings’ extreme similarities to François Boitard’s work from Rowe’s volumes, particularly in the frontispiece interpretation of Shakespeare's Stratford monument.

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-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern