| Coming back to Tonson, he commissioned Nicholas
Rowe to produce a groundbreaking complete Shakespeare edition in 1709, which
is not in the Charlecote library. Rowe was a dramatist and also Poet Laureate.
Rowe’s source for the plays was the Fourth Folio to which Tonson had
purchased the rights. He produced the first list of dramatis personae for
each play and divided the plays into acts and scenes, adding entrances and
exits for each player. This reflects the fact that Rowe was the most successful
dramatist of his day. You can find a copy at the Shakespeare Birthplace
Trust. For the first time it was in easily handled octavo size. The introduction
to this set contained the first biography of Shakespeare, using material
gathered by the actor Thomas Betterton, who travelled to Stratford to talk
to the residents.
In that biography of Shakespeare written by Rowe for this edition he introduced the idea that Shakespeare had poached deer from Charlecote. According to Bill Bryson in his Shakespeare, much of it was incorrect as an example he gave Shakespeare three daughters instead of two and of course the poaching incident. Bryson quotes a later scholar, Edmond Malone, as saying that of the eleven facts asserted about Shakespeare’s life, eight were incorrect. Much of the Shakespeare family history was elucidated by Malone. |
 |
Page
47
|
 |