WITH TWO ADDITIONAL MANUSCRIPT LECTURES
On ten plays of shakespeare.
London.
Archibald Constable and Company, 1905.
First edition.
8vo.
[4], 311pp, [1]. Original publisher's red cloth, lettered in gilt to spine. Rubbed and marked with bumping to corners. Darkening to spine and damp staining to fore edge of upper board.
[With:] [Two manuscript autograph lectures, delivered at University College London in March and November of 1905]. Each 22ff sewn. Slightly marked.
[With:] [Two manuscript autograph lectures, delivered at University College London in March and November of 1905]. Each 22ff sewn. Slightly marked.
The first edition of ten critical essays by Stopford A. Brooke (1832- 1916), each covering one of Shakespeare's plays. Celebrated both for his preaching and literary output, Brooke served as professor of poetry at University College London between 1900 and 1905. He later published a further volume of essays on the bard, Ten more plays of Shakespeare, in 1913.
The first of the additional manuscript lectures included with this copy, 7000 words or so, covers All's Well that Ends Well (1605). Brooke comments that 'Shakespeare is by no means at his best...in the working, or the poetry of this play.', a belief he attributes partly to its adaptation from the earlier Love's Labours Won, theorised to have been produced around 1595. Brooke also devotes much attention to the 'dishonour' of Bertram, and the complexity of Helena, arguing that she is a 'very mixed person, placed in a very curious set of circumstances', and worthy of more than 'momentary criticism'.
The second of the two lectures, around 6500 words, covers The Two Gentleman of Verona (1591). Arguably Shakespeare's first play, Brooke spends the first half of the lecture emphasising the immaturity present in the text, the source of which he purports to be 'the weakness of the subject', and unpicking the 'miraculous' leap in quality that came with Romeo and Juliet (1592) a mere year later. Further discussion explores the play's characters - the treachery of Proteus and the 'coquettine' of Julia receive particular attention.
Although published without introduction, the running title of this work is 'Lectures on Shakespeare', and it would appear that both this publication and his later Ten More plays of Shakespeare (London, 1913), were at least inspired by, if not printed verbatim, from the lectures given at University College London. That said, the two manuscripts included here cover two plays that do not feature in either published work. As far as we can tell, these are therefore unpublished additional material that never troubled the printing press.
Further manuscript material by Brooke is held at the NYPL and NLI.
£ 2,500.00
Antiquates Ref: 32041
The first of the additional manuscript lectures included with this copy, 7000 words or so, covers All's Well that Ends Well (1605). Brooke comments that 'Shakespeare is by no means at his best...in the working, or the poetry of this play.', a belief he attributes partly to its adaptation from the earlier Love's Labours Won, theorised to have been produced around 1595. Brooke also devotes much attention to the 'dishonour' of Bertram, and the complexity of Helena, arguing that she is a 'very mixed person, placed in a very curious set of circumstances', and worthy of more than 'momentary criticism'.
The second of the two lectures, around 6500 words, covers The Two Gentleman of Verona (1591). Arguably Shakespeare's first play, Brooke spends the first half of the lecture emphasising the immaturity present in the text, the source of which he purports to be 'the weakness of the subject', and unpicking the 'miraculous' leap in quality that came with Romeo and Juliet (1592) a mere year later. Further discussion explores the play's characters - the treachery of Proteus and the 'coquettine' of Julia receive particular attention.
Although published without introduction, the running title of this work is 'Lectures on Shakespeare', and it would appear that both this publication and his later Ten More plays of Shakespeare (London, 1913), were at least inspired by, if not printed verbatim, from the lectures given at University College London. That said, the two manuscripts included here cover two plays that do not feature in either published work. As far as we can tell, these are therefore unpublished additional material that never troubled the printing press.
Further manuscript material by Brooke is held at the NYPL and NLI.
