A Calendar Of The Shakespearean Rarities

THE following extract is from p. 84 of "A Calendar of the Shakespearean Rarities, Drawings, and Engravings preserved at Hollingbury Copse, Brighton, that quaint wigwam on the Sussex Downs which has the honour of sheltering more record and artistic evidences connected with the personal history of the Great Dramatist than are to be found in any other of the World's libraries.... For special circulation and for presents only, 1887." This is the work in which is set out a detailed list of the rarities to be offered to the corporation of Birmingham for 7,000l. under the will of the late Mr. J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps, and the extract I think may interest not only your last week's correspondent, Mr. Robert Roberts, but also Shakspearean students generally: "283. England's Parnassus, or the choysest Flowers of our Moderne Poets, with their Poeticall Conparisons, Descriptions of Bewties, Personages, Castles, Pallaces, Mountaines, Groues, Seas, Springs, Rivers, &c. Whereunto are annexed other various discourses, both pleasaunt and profitable. Imprinted at London for N. L., C. B., and T. H. , 1600 - small octavo. An interesting collection that includes numerous extracts from the works of Shakespeare. This copy, which belonged successively to Theobald and Oldys, is perhaps unique in one small matter, the two fly-leaves of sheet A preceding the title-page. In common with two other copies in the British Museum, it has not the verses commencing 'Fame's windy trump,' which have been said, I am sure erroneously, to form a genuine portion of the work." The late Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps also had in his library, and I, as the legatee thereof, now have on my shelves, a gorgeously bound portion of the book the subject of this letter, and inside the cover he had pasted a memorandum as follows: "There is already a perfect copy of this book in my collection, No. 283. The present fragment, taken from a very imperfect copy, contains the whole of the last sheet with the blank last leaf, the latter being important as showing that the verses commencing 'Fame's windy trump' could never have formed part of the original work."I do not make any remarks relative to these extracts, for they speak for themselves, and any notes of mine would be needless and wearisome. They only show that Mr. Roberts has been forestalled in his claim to uniqueness for his copy. -The Athenæum: A Journal of Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, Volume 1 [1889]

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Excerpt from A Calendar of the Shakespearean Rarities, 1887: Drawings and Engravings Preserved at Hollingbury Copse, Near Brighton For nearly half a century I have been an ardent Shakespearean collector, being most likely the only survivor of the little band who attended the sale of the library of George Chalmers somewhere about the year 1840. But foralong time, attempt ing too much in several directions with insufficient means, and harassed, moreover, by a succession of lawsuits, including two in the Court of Torture, - I mean Chancery, - I was unable to retain my accumulations and thus it came to pass that book case full after bookcase full were disposed of, some by private contract, many under the vibrations of the auctioneer's hammer. This state of affairs continued till February, 1 872, but since that period, by a strict limitation of my competitive resources to one subject, - the Life of Shakespeare, - l have managed to jog along without parting with a single article of any description, nor is there a probability that the collection described in the following pages will ever be dispersed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This early work by James Halliwell-Phillipps was originally published in 1887 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'A Calendar of the Shakespearean Rarities: Drawings and Engravings Preserved at Hollingbury Copse, Near Brighton' contains details on the varieties of artwork relating to Shakespeare. James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps was born on 21st June 1820, in London, England. Halliwell-Phillipps was privately educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he became intensely interested in the subject of antiquarian English literature. He began publishing works in the field at a very young age, including editing Sir John Mandeville's 'Travels' (1839), and writing an 'Account of the European Manuscripts in the Chetham Library' (1842). His love of literature was accompanied by a passion for all things Shakespearian, producing several publications on 'The Bard' and his works, such as 'Life of Shakespeare' (1848), 'Curiosities of Modern Shakespeare Criticism' (1853), and 'The Last Days of William Shakespeare' (1863). He also took a key role in protecting the historical Shakespearian sites in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare's town of birth.