V. Historical Associations: The Charles I Copy
In his account of certain notable copies of the Second Folio
Professor Smith hurries over what was, for him, a relatively
unimportant exemplar of "Allot 5" to humble himself before two
others which he had exalted in the rank of "Allot 1". One of these
was a copy first owned by King George III, then given to Dr. Burney
when the latter withdrew his bid for the Allot 5 in question,
eventually acquired by James Lenox, the American collector, and
finally deposited at the New York Public Library. The other, once
in the library of Thomas Howard, second Earl of Arundel, was
donated to the Royal Society and thence passed through Sotheby's
into oblivion. Both of these "treasures," as Smith calls them, were
at various times offered to the British Museum, and both were as
many times refused. Such persistent evidence of disrespect, though
excused by Smith as occurring before the enlightenment of his
"scientific bibliography,"
was nevertheless deplored on the grounds that the Museum had
thereby denied itself the opportunity of acquiring copies
immeasurably superior to those already in its collection.
A reversal in the order of variants puts an end to this
solicitude as quite ill-advised and allows an entirely different
interpretation. Where the Museum authorities had once been
admonished they are now to be congratulated, for with a sagacity
not given to Shakespeare's professed bibliographers they have been
careful to accept only the states proved to be the first—an
a, two bs, and a c—and
to reject on every
occasion the unsightly specimens now demonstrated to be of
subsequent issue. The same discrimination appears in the selections
made for the other principal British libraries: all possess one or
more copies of a or b, only a few the
copies identified as of issue II (and these, no doubt, only at the
insistence of misguided benefactors), and none the copies described
as of issue III. Most of II and all of III were cast aside as the
scraps to be gobbled up in the American market.
Another consequence of this reversal is that the "Allot 5" Smith
had slighted many years ago finally assumes its rightful position,
not only as a, the first in the series of states in the
initial issue, but as the only known exemplar with a provenance
extending from the very date of publication to the present time.
This is the book formerly in the possession of King Charles I and
now, after many vicissitudes, in repose with other remarkable
volumes in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. For the
privilege of offering a summary account of this historic copy and
a record of the inscriptions which it bears I am deeply indebted to
Sir Owen Morshead, Librarian to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth
II.
As a representative of the a state this book, along with
others similarly distinguished, was separated from the b
group retained by the printers and dispatched first to Robert
Allot, the chief proprietor. Some time before the day of
publication Allot honored the custom[61] of forwarding the selected copy to
the
King's bindery, where it was suitably covered in morocco and gilt
and then presented with a ceremony befitting the occasion. As even
Milton was to admit, the King soon became a confirmed admirer of
Shakespeare, no doubt as the direct result of this presentation,
and in the enforced seclusion of his latter days often resorted to
the book as "the closest companion of these his solitudes."[62]
Toward the end of his stay at St. James's Palace Charles
entrusted to Sir Thomas Herbert, his retainer, all the possessions
which were then his to bestow—his books, his cabinet, his cloak,
and his large silver watch[63]—
and
all of these Herbert faithfully preserved until his own death in
1682, when they were dispersed and, with the exception of the
Folio, subsequently lost from view.
An inscription in the copy testifies that it next appeared at
the auction of Dr. Richard Mead's library in 1754, where it was
purchased by Mead's friend and disciple Dr. Anthony Askew. Upon the
death of Askew it was again placed on sale and bought by George
Steevens at what he justly considered to be an "enormous price,"
unequalled at this time,[64] but soon
to
reach over thrice that amount when it was eventually purchased in
1800, at the Steevens sale, by a representative of George III. Not
until the bidding had gone to £18-18-0 was it made known that
the King desired the book, at which disclosure the participants,
Charles Burney among them, immediately withdrew their offers. And
so, after its strange and varied adventures, this precious volume
was returned to the Royal Library, there to remain until today.
Table V
Notations in the Charles I Copy
Numbers indicate order of inscriptions, letters their position
as R right, C center, L
left.
Notation
- I. Recto of end-paper
- 1C C/L
- 2C Aut Æternum | Aut Nihil
- 2R αα | T H
- 3L 2.54
- Comment
All notations apparently in the same hand. alpha alpha |
Thomas Herbert? Shelf mark?
II. Recto of flyleaf between end-paper and A1
| 1C
|
Dum spiro Spero | CR |
By Charles I |
| 2C
|
347 Shakespeare's Works, bound in Morocco leather,
gilt leaves, | 1632 | In this Book, is the writing of King
Charles the First in | these Words; Dum Spiro Spero, C. R.
also in Mr. Her- | bert's Hand; ex Dono serenissinti Regis Car.
servo suo | Humiliss. T. Herbert
|
Clipping from Askew catalogue |
| 3C
|
Bought at the Sale of Dr Antony Askew |
Feby. 14th.
1775, at the enormous price of | Five pounds Ten shillings | George
Steevens. | It appears that Dr. Askew purchased this |
book at
Dr Mead's Sale for £2..12..6. |
Note by Steevens |
| 4R
|
Ex dono serenissi. Regis. Car. | servo suo
humiliss°.
| THerberto. |
Herbert's acknowledgement: Ex dono serenissimi Regis Caroli
servo suo humillimo. |
| 5R
|
1 {Sr. Tho. Herbert was Master of | the Revels
to K.
Charles. I. |
Note by Steevens. Parentheses and numerals in another
hand. |
| 6R
|
2{This is a mistake he having been | Groom of the Bedchamber
to K. Charles I.| but Sir Henry Herbert was Master of the |
Revels |
Correction by George III |
| 7C
|
The two lines marked No. 1. were written | by
Mr.
Stevens, at whose Sale this Book was | purchased; and the
Correction marked | No. 2. was made and written by his
late |
Majesty George III. | JH. Glover. Fred: Aug: Barnard |
Librarian. |
Note in the handwriting of John Hulbert Glover, assistant and
successor to Frederick Augusta Barnard, the librarian to George
III. |
III. Title-page, A2r, reproduced in this
study.
Notation, by Herbert, is "Pawb yn eu Aruer," the motto of one
branch of the Herbert family (teste L. W. Hanson).
IV. A Catalogue of all the Comedies . . ., *
4v.
Marginalia indicating page numbers for the several plays and,
opposite those in which they appear, the names of the following
characters: "Bennedik & Betrice", "Piramus & Thisby",
"Rosalinde", "Mr Paroles", and "Malvolio". It has been
thought,
and so reported, that as these are the only references in an
unknown hand they might be in the script of Ben Jonson; but Sir
Owen Morshead informs me, on the authority of Dr. Percy Simpson,
that this is not the case.
[Since writing this I have received, through Sir Owen's good
offices, a communication supplied by J. F. Kermode of the
University of Reading to the effect that these inscriptions may
also be in the hand of King Charles. See Farmer's note as corrected
in Steevens' edition of Shakespeare (1778), IV, 283-284, and
Warton's note as corrected in Todd's edition of Milton (1842), IV,
371.]
