The Staunton Edition of 1858-1860

Howard Staunton was "reputed to be the natural son of Frederick Howard, fifth earl of Carlisle" (Dictionary of National Biography, Sidney Lee, 1909, p. 1003-1004, from which the biographical information about Staunton presented here is taken).  He received little education, but proved to have a genius for chess.  Much of his early and middle life was spent in playing and writing about chess.  From 1840-1851 he was one of the strongest players in the world.  The standard set of chess pieces used in the West were named after him.  Before he became famous as a world class chess player and chess journalist he claims to have been an actor, acting the part of Lorenzo in The Merchant of Venice to Edmund Kean's Shylock.

From 1854, after his ability to play chess at the highest level waned, he dedicated himself to the study of Shakespeare and the editing of Shakespeare's works.  "Between November 1857 and May 1860 he issued, with Messrs. Routledge, a new edition of Shakespeare in monthly parts, with 824 illustrations by Sir John Gilbert.  The parts were bound up in three volumes" (DNB, p. 1004).  (Actually, the volumes were issued from 1858 to 1860, coincidentally with completion of the monthly parts).  The volume were reissued in 1864 without illustrations.  Also in 1864 Staunton issued a photo-lithographic facsimile of the 1600 first quarto of Much Ado About Nothing.  And then in 1866 a photo-lithographic reproduction of the First Folio.

"Staunton's text was based on a collation of the folio editions with the early quartos and with the texts of modern editors from Rowe [1709] to Dyce [1857].  The conjectural emendations, which were usually sensible, were kept within narrow limits, and showed much familiarity with Elizabethan literature and modes of speech.  The general notes combined common-sense with exhaustive research" (DNB, 1004).

Following are links to the edition of 1858-1860 from Google Book Search;

The Plays of Shakespeare. Edited by Howard Staunton. The Illustrations by John Gilbert. Engraved by the Brothers Dalziel. London: George Routledge & Co., vol. I, 1858; vol. II 1859; vol. III 1860; from Google Book Search in Full View and PDF formats.

• Vol. I
  • Preface
  • Some Account of the Life of Shakespeare
  • Shakespeare's Will
  • Appendix
  • Preliminary Matter in the Folio of 1623
  • Addenda and Corrigenda
  • The Two Gentlemen of Verona
  • Love's Labour's Lost
  • The Comedy of Errors
  • Romeo and Juliet
  • Taming of the Shrew
  • King John
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream
  • The Merchant of Venice
  • King Richard Second
  • King Henry the Fourth Part 1
  • King Henry IV Part II
  • Merry Wives of Windsor
  • Much Ado About Nothing
• Vol. II
  • All's Well That Ends Well
  • King Henry V
  • As You Like It
  • Pericles
  • Twelfth Night
  • King Henry VI Part I
  • King Henry VI Part Second
  • King Henry the Sixth Part Third
  • Timon of Athens
  • Richard III
  • Measure for Measure
  • Henry the Eighth
  • Cymbeline
• Vol. III
  • Tempest
  • King Lear
  • Coriolanus
  • Winter's Tale
  • Troilus and Cressida
  • Hamlet
  • Julius Caesar
  • Macbeth
  • Antony and Cleopatra
  • Titus Andronicus
  • Othello
  • The Poems of William Shakespeare
  • Glossarial Index

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