Rowe's Shakespear (1709) and the Tonson House Style

Abstract

Nicholas Rowe's The Works of Mr. William Shakespear (1709) is widely recognized as an important moment in publishing history, one that marks the beginning of the modern Shakespeare text. This essay examines the edition as part of a standardized series of English authors, what the author calls Tonson's vernacular classics, published by Jacob Tonson. Prior to the publication of these editions, Tonson collaborated with the Cambridge University Press on a series of Greek and Latin classics, which, the author argues, greatly shaped his English series. Rowe's Shakespear undoubtedly marks an important moment in Shakespearean publication history, but examining it as part of a more ambitious publishing project provides us not only a more accurate appreciation of Shakespeare's status at the start of the eighteenth century, but also a better understanding of Tonson's effort at canon-making.

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