Multiple-Volume Editions
From the 18th century onwards, Shakespeare's plays and poems were published not on bulky large volumes, as the Folios, but in multiple small volume editions. Different editors and publishers decided to cater for a more flexible market and make editions more affordable by publishing the canon in volumes.
Notable 18th century publications are Nicholas Rowe's 1709 octavo edition in six volumes; Alexander Pope's various editions ranging from 1723 to 1728; 1743-4 Thomas Hanmer's edition in six volumes; Lewis Theobald's 1757 edition in eight volumes; and Edward Capell's 1768 ten-volume edition.
Samuel Johnson was arguably one of the most distinguished English scholars of the 18th century. He was a poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic, and editor. In 1756, Johnson decided to 'kickstart' his own edition of Shakespeare's plays. He launched a public proposal 'for printing, by subscription, the dramatic works of William Shakespeare', which were eventually published in eight volumes in 1765. The preface to this edition contains one of Johnson's most influential critical essays where he defends Shakespeare against accusations of failing to adhere to the Aristotelian principles of the unity of time and space. In 1773, Johnson worked with George Steevens co-editing the plays, this time, in ten volumes.
Edmond Malone is another important figure in the history of editing Shakespeare and the first scholar to attempt to create a chronology of Shakespeare's plays to establish the order in which they were written. In 1790, Malone published the plays in ten volumes, stating in the title that they were 'collated verbatim with the most authetick copies'.
The tradition of publishing Shakespeare in multiple volumes continued into the 19th century. In 1803, Isaac Reed published them in 21 volumes and Malone would return to them, working with James Boswell as co-editor, to publish Shakespeare's works also in 21 volumes.
