Malone's Editions

The greatest Elizabethan scholar of the 18th century was Edmond Malone.  Below I provide the links I have been able to discover at Google Book Search (mainly) to his Shakespearean scholarship.  GBS has made these valuable resources accessible now in a way that has never been realized before.  I have provided detailed links into the works to facilitate access.

Malone contributed the essay to George Steevens' 1778 edition of the works (Johnson-Steevens 2) "An Attempt to Ascertain the Order in which the Plays Attributed to Shakspeare Were Written."  The essay changed over time, as you will see by following the various links below, but this was his first published version and the essay is still valuable in its thoroughgoing analysis of the chronology of the plays based on the evidence Malone was able to amass.

Malone followed this with a very accomplished 2 volume supplement to the 1778 edition in 1780.  A detailed set of links are provided below.

Supplement to the edition of Shakspeare's plays published in 1778 by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. In two volumes. Containing additional observations ... to which are subjoined the genuine poems of the same author, and seven plays that have been ascribed to him; with notes by the editor and others, C. Bathurst, etc., 1780; from Google Book Search, full view and PDF.

• Volume the First
  • Advertisement (Preface)
  • Errata
  • Prolegomena (Supplemental Observations)
    • The Tempest
    • Two Gentlemen of Verona
    • The Merry Wives of Windsor
    • Measure for Measure
    • Comedy of Errors
    • Much Ado About Nothing
    • Love's Labour Lost
    • Midsummer Night's Dream
    • Merchant of Venice
    • As You Like It
    • Taming of the Shrew
    • All's Well That Ends Well
    • Twelfth Night
    • The Winter's Tale
    • Macbeth
    • King John
    • Richard II
    • First Part of King Henry IV
    • Second Part of King Henry IV
    • King Henry V
    • The First Part of King Henry VI
    • The Second Part of King Henry VI
    • The Third Part of King Henry VI
    • King Richard III
    • King Henry VIII
    • Coriolanus
    • Julius Caesar
    • Antony and Cleopatra
    • Timon of Athens
    • Troilus and Cressida
    • Cymbeline
    • King Lear
    • Romeo and Juliet
    • The Tragicall Hystory of Romeus and Juliet
    • Hamlet
    • Othello
  • Appendix
  • The Poems of William Shakspeare
    • Venus and Adonis
    • Lucrece
    • Sonnets
    • Passionate Pilgrim
    • A Lover's Complaint
• Volume the Second
  • Pericles
  • Locrine
  • Sir John Oldcastle
  • Lord Cromwell
  • The London Prodigal
  • Puritan
  • Yorkshire Tragedy
  • Appendix to Vol. I
  • Appendix to Vol. II

In 1790 Malone brought forth his first great edition of the Works, including the poetry.  Unfortunately, a link to Volume I Part I cannot be found at this time at Google Book Search or the Internet Archive.  It contains much of the Prolegomena which is, in any event, accessible through Boswell's 1821 successor to this edition, known as the "third variorum edition."  Volume 3 and Volume 8 are linked at GBS, but cannot be viewed, for unknown reasons.  Especially useful among the Malone materials in this edition is the Rise and Progress of the English Stage, The Dissertation on the Three Parts of King Henry VI, and Malone's edition of Romeus and Juliet, the source for Romeo and Juliet.  Malone is also important for his emphasis on the poetry, in contrast to his predecessors and specifically contra Steevens.  Though the title page states that Malone's edition appears in 10 volumes, it actually appeared in 11, volume I having two parts.  According to Simon Jarvis (Scholars and Gentlemen, p. 187) Malone (ironically) used the Isaac Reed edition of 1785 (Johnson-Steevens-Reed 3) as his base text, and then carefully collated the early editions against this base text.  In 1792 Malone proposed a new "splendid" edition of Shakespeare in "fifteen volumes, royal octavo" but the project was never realized.  Malone's second edition, if it can be called that, was compiled by his literary executor, James Boswell the younger in 1821 (linked below), nine years after Malone's death.

The plays and poems : of William Shakspeare, in ten volumes; collated verbatim with the most authentick copies, and revised: with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added, an essay on the chronological order of his plays; an essay relative to Shakspeare and Jonson; a dissertation ... an historical account ... by Edmond Malone, J. Rivington and Sons, ..., 1790.

• Volume I, Part II.
  • An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the English Stage and of The Economy and Usages of Our Ancient Theatres
  • Emendations and Additions
  • Contents
  • The Tempest
  • Two Gentlemen of Verona
  • The Merry Wives of Windsor
• Volume II
  • Measure for Measure
  • The Comedy of Errors
  • Much Ado About Nothing
  • Love's Labour's Lost
  • A Midsummer-Night's Dream
• Volume III (No View Available)
  • The Merchant of Venice
  • As You Like It
  • The Taming of the Shrew
  • All's Well That Ends Well
  • Pericles, Prince of Tyre
• Volume IV
  • Twelfth-Night: or, What You Will
  • Winter's Tale
  • Macbeth
  • King John
• Volume V
  • King Richard II
  • King Henry IV, Part I
  • King Henry IV, Part II
  • King Henry V
• Volume VI
  • King Henry VI, Part I
  • King Henry VI, Part II
  • King Henry VI, Part III
  • A Dissertation on the Three Parts of King Henry VI
  • King Richard III
• Volume VII
  • King Henry VIII
  • Coriolanus
  • Julius Caesar
  • Antony and Cleopatra
• Volume VIII (No View Available)
  • Timon of Athens
  • Troilus and Cressida
  • Cymbeline
  • King Lear
• Volume IX
  • Romeo and Juliet
  • Hamlet
  • Othello
• Volume X
  • Venus and Adonis
  • Rape of Lucrece
  • Sonnets
  • The Passionate Pilgrim
  • A Lover's Complaint
  • Titus Andronicus A Tragedy Erroneously Ascribed to Shakspeare
  • The Tragicall Hystory of Romeus and Juliet
  • Appendix
  • Glossarial Index

Links to Malone's "second edition," actually the Boswell edition of 1821 (commonly known as the "third variorum edition"), published in 21 volumes and based on the massive materials left by Malone at his death in  are provided below.

James Boswell the younger (son of Johnson's biographer) inherited the literary remains of Edmond Malone, and dutifully edited them into what became known as the "third variorum" edition, published in 21 volumes in 1821.  It marked the culmination of 18th century Shakespeare scholarship, and the end of a tradition in variorum editions.  The following edition, of Samuel Weller Singer in 1826, revolted against the imposing scholarly trappings associated with the variorum editions by minimizing notes and doing away with most comment and, indeed, mostly all scholarly comment.  Numerous editions of Shakespeare followed in the nineteenth century, based upon the text here reflected, of the work of the great editors starting with Rowe, proceeding through Theobald to Dr. Johnson, encompassing Steevens, and running through Malone-Boswell, but without reproducing the minute notes and other critical apparatus of this great edition.  Therefore, the "third variorum" edited by Boswell became the scholarly standard of the 19th century, and held dominance, in spite of editions by Charles Knight, Alexander Dyce and John Payne Collier (prior to his exposure as a forger), until the Cambridge edition of 1863-1866 superseded it.  I present below links to the first three volumes of Boswell's edition (note that he insisted on Malone's name appearing on the title page, and not his own).  The first three volumes contain strictly prolegomena, with the plays beginning in the fourth volume.  This edition stands as a monument to Malone, to 18th century scholarship in general, and to the modesty and dutiful diligence of James Boswell the younger in particular.  Reading the prolegomena herein contained is a full education in the Shakespeare scholarship as it had developed to 1821, and a generally good foundation to all modern scholarship. 

The Plays and Poems of William Shakspeare, with the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators : Comprehending a Life of the Poet, and an enlarged History of the Stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new Glossarial Index, 1821.

• Volume I
  • Advertisement to the Present Edition by Mr. Boswell
  • A Biographical Memoir &c. (Boswell's Memoir of Malone)
  • General Table of Contents
  • Mr. Pope's Preface
  • Mr. Theobald's Preface
  • Sir Thomas Hanmer's Preface
  • Dr. Warburton's Preface
  • Dr. Johnson's Preface
  • Mr. Steevens's Advertisement, 1766
  • Mr. Capell's Introduction
  • Mr. Steevens's Advertisement, 1773
  • Mr. Reed's Advertisement, 1785
  • Mr. Malone's Preface, 1790
  • Mr. Steevens's Advertisement, 1793
  • Mr. Reed's Advertisement, 1803
  • Mr. Steevens's Advertisement, 1803
  • Preface to Mr. Richardson's Proposals
  • Mr. Richardson's Proposals and Supplement
  • Dr. Farmer on the Learning of Shakspeare
  • Appendix to Mr. Colman's Translation of Terence
  • Ancient Translations from Classic Authors
  • List of Detached Pieces of Criticism on Shakspeare, His Editors, &c.
  • Shakspeare, Ford and Jonson
  • Mr. Rowe's Life of Shakspeare
  • Additional Anecdotes
  • Commendatory Poems on Shakspeare
  • Essay on Phraseology and Metre
• Volume II
  • Mr. Malone's Life of Shakspeare, comprehending an Essay on the Chronological Order of His Plays
  • Appendix
  • Shakspeare's Coat of Arms
  • Conveyance from Walker to Shakspeare
  • Shakspeare's Mortgage
  • Declaration of Trust by Heminge's, &c.
  • Shakspeare's Will
  • Extracts from Stratford Register
  • Entries on the Stationers' Books
  • Lists of the Early Editions of Shakspeare
  • Dedication of the Players
  • Preface of the Players
  • Modern Editions
  • Plays Ascribed to Shakspeare
  • Plays Altered from Shakspeare
  • Character of Aubrey, the Antiquary
• Volume III
  • Mr. Malone's History of the Stage
  • Additions from Henslowe's Register
  • Additions by Mr. Steevens
  • Appendix from Mr. Malone's Papers
  • Further Account of the Stage from Mr. Chalmers
  • Addenda from the same
  • Mr. Markland's Dissertation on the Chester Mysteries
• Volume IV
  • The Two Gentlemen of Verona
  • The Comedy of Errors
  • Love's Labour's Lost
• Volume V
  • The Merchant of Venice
  • A Midsummer-Night's Dream
  • The Taming of the Shrew
• Volume VI
  • Romeo and Juliet
  • As You Like It
• Volume VII
  • Much Ado About Nothing
  • Hamlet
• Volume VIII
  • The Merry Wives of Windsor
  • Troilus and Cressida
• Volume IX
  • Measure for Measure
  • Othello
• Volume X
  • King Lear
  • All's Well That Ends Well
• Volume XI
  • Macbeth
  • Twelfth-Night: or, What You Will
• Volume XII
  • Julius Caesar
  • Antony and Cleopatra
• Volume XIII
  • Cymbeline
  • Timon of Athens
• Volume XIV
  • Coriolanus
  • Winter's Tale
• Volume XV
  • Tempest
  • King John
  • An Account of the Incidents, from which the Title and Part of the Story of Shakspeare's Tempest Were Derived; and its True Date Ascertained
• Volume XVI
  • King Richard II
  • The First Part of King Henry IV
• Volume XVII
  • King Henry IV Part II
  • King Henry V
• Volume XVIII
  • King Henry VI Part I
  • King Henry VI Part II
  • King Henry VI Part III
  • Dissertation of the Three Parts of King Henry VI Temding to Show That Those Plays were Not Written Originally by Shakspeare
• Volume IXX
  • King Richard III
  • King Henry VIII
• Volume XX
  • Venus and Adonis
  • The Rape of Lucrece
  • Sonnets
  • A Lover's Complaint
  • The Passionate Pilgrim
  • Memoirs of Henry Wriothesley, The Third Earl of Southampton
• Volume XXI
  • Pericles
  • Titus Andronicus
  • Addenda
  • Glossarial Index, of Words, Phrases, Customs and Persons, Explained or Mentioned in the Notes