Sir Thomas Hanmer
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| Sir
Thomas Hanmer (1647 - 1746) |
- Introduction
- Excerpts from Shakespeariana: Shakespeare's Editors: Sir Thomas Hanmer
- Hanmer's Preface to his 1743-1744 The Works of Shakespear
- Excerpts from the Wikipedia article on Hanmer
- Links to Hanmer's Edition
"Most of those passages are here thrown to the bottom of the page and rejected as spurious, which were stigmatized as such in Mr. Pope's Edition; and it were to be wished that more had then undergone the same sentence." (From Hanmer's Preface to The Works of Mr. William Shakespear)
Sir Thomas Hanmer (1647 - 1746) was editor of the first
edition of Shakespeare published at Oxford (1743 - 1744) by the University
Press, in fact, the first published outside of London. It was published in
six quarto volumes with nearly 40 illustrations, and fine bindings.
According to William Shakespeare A Textual Companion
"He provided an édition de luxe for gentlemen of his own class. The print and binding were magnificent, and caused its value to rise to nine guineas, when Warburton’s edition [1747] was going for eighteen shillings. Pope has celebrated this, its chief feature, in the well known picture of Montalto and his “volume fair.” [in The Dunciad]. On its title-page, the text is said to have been “carefully revised and corrected by the former editions”; but there is no evidence that the old copies were consulted. Hanmer is nearer the mark when he says in the preface that it was only “according to the best of his judgment” that he attempted “to restore the genuine sense and purity” of the text. He relegated to the bottom of the page all the passages which Pope had thus degraded, and added several others, thinking it a pity that “more had not then undergone the same sentence.” His emendations are numerous, and are generally made in the reckless spirit of Pope; but his natural acuteness produced some conjectures of value."
Shakespeariana (J. Parker Norris, August 1885) adds these descriptive and critical details about Hanmer's edition:
"It is not known when Hanmer commenced the preparation of his edition of Shakespeare, but it was probably shortly after the publication of Theobald's edition in 1733; for he owned a copy of that work, in which he corrected the text in very many places, and the margins show additions to, and changes in the notes, in his own handwriting. That it was ready for the press in the year 1741 is very probable, because an agreement was entered into in November, 1740, between Sir Thomas Hanmer and Francis Hayman, by which the latter stipulates that he will design and delineate a drawing to be prefix'd to each play of Shakespeare, taking the subject of such scenes as the said Sir Thomas Hanmer shall direct...
"When Sir Thomas Hanmer announced his intention of publishing an edition of Shakespeare, it was the cause of a fierce dispute between Warburton and himself. The former intended to issue an edition of the poet himself, and, although he does not seem to have been ready to do so at that time, he did not the like idea of Sir Thomas publishing his first, and he charged him with having stolen his (Warburton's) notes. The position of both the disputants drew much attention to the quarrel...
"The work appeared in 1744, in six very handsome quarto volumes. The paper is excellent and the printing very good. The title-page of the first volume reads: "The Works of Shakespear. In six volumes. Carefully Revised and Corrected by the former Editions, and Adorned with Sculptures designed and executed by the best hands.— Nil ortum tale— HOR. Oxford: Printed at the Theatre, MDCCXLIV." There is a second title-page in the first volume which is as follows: "The Works of Mr. William Shakespear. Volume the first. Consisting of Comedies. Oxford: Printed at the Theatre, MDCCXLIII." Title-pages like the latter are in the other five volumes, except that they state the number of the volume, and whether it contains comedies, histories, or tragedies ; and further that some of them are dated 1744. This shows that during 1743 and 1744 the edition was passing through the press; and on the back of the first title-page of the first volume there is printed: "Imprimatur. Gualt. Hodges Vice-Can. Oxon. Mar. 26, 1744." It was after the latter date therefore that the work appeared.
"Facing the first title-page in the first volume there is a copy of the Chandos portrait of Shakespeare, engraved by H. Gravelot. The plate is well engraved, but it is entirely different from the original. The head is turned the other way, and the other differences are too numerous 10 point out.
"The first volume also contains an engraving, by H. Gravelot, which is intended to represent the Stratford monument and the bust. The head, however, instead of being a copy of that effigy, is taken from the Chandos portrait.
"The preface is short [see below], and is followed by Pope's preface and Rowe's life of Shakespeare. The grant of arms to Shakespeare's father follows, and Ben Jonson's ode to the memory of the poet. An engraving of a scene from each of the plays precedes that play in the edition. They were designed by F. Hayman and engraved by H. Gravelot, and possess some merit. An engraving of the monument in Westminster Abbey is also given.
"Nowhere in the work is there any indication of who the editor was, and although he was well known to have been Sir Thomas Hanmer, his contemporaries and successors generally called him " the Oxford editor." This was from the fact of the book having been printed at Oxford. The edition was likewise frequently referred to as " the Oxford edition...
"Sir Thomas used Pope's edition to print his from, and he followed Pope's plan of relegating to the bottom of the page those passages which he did not think Shakespeare wrote. His notes are few, and not very good, but his emendations are plausible, and some of them are in the text of the present day...Hanmer certainly neglected to compare the old editions, and he trusted to his own emendations too much, but then he had the advantage of the labors of Theobald in this respect.
"Although Hanmer called his edition The Works of Shakespear, he did not include the poems. After Othello, which comes last in his edition, he prints "The End of Shakespear's Plays." Then follows "A Glossary Explaining the obsolete and difficult Words in the Plays of Shakespear." Although this glossary seems very incomplete when compared with modern works of a similar character, yet it was a creditable performance for its day.
"Hanmer's edition must have been much esteemed, for it rose in price to ten pounds ten shillings, while Pope's quarto edition had fallen to sixteen shillings. No doubt this led to its being reprinted in 1771, when it again appeared in six volumes quarto, of a larger size than the first edition. The margins are very wide, and it is often mistaken for a large paper edition. The text is slightly different from the first edition. The plates are the same..."
Hanmer's Preface to The Works of Shakespear (from Eighteenth Century Essays on Shakespeare, D. Nichol Smith, 1903). It is reproduced here in its entirety.
[I have placed section numbers in square brackets before each of the original paragraphs for reference. The illustration from Hanmer's edition was not originally placed within the Preface.]
Othello Strikes Desdemona
Plate from Hanmer's Edition[1] WHAT the Publick is here to expect is a true and correct Edition of Shakespeare works cleared from the corruptions with which they have hitherto abounded. One of the great Admirers of this incomparable Author hath made it the amusement of his leisure hours for many years past to look over his writings with a careful eye, to note the obscurities and absurdities introduced into the text, and according to the best of his judgment to restore the genuine sense and purity of it. In this he proposed nothing to himself but his private satisfaction in making his own copy as perfect as he could : but as the emendations multiplied upon his hands, other Gentlemen equally fond of the Author desired to see them, and some were so kind as to give their assistance by communicating their observations and conjectures upon difficult passages which had occurred to them. Thus by degrees the work growing more considerable than was at first expected, they who had the opportunity of looking into it, too partial perhaps in their judgmnt, thought it worth being made publick; and he, who hath with difficulty yielded to their perswasions, is far from desiring to reflect upon the late Editors for the omissions and defects which they left to be supplied by others who should follow them in the same province. On the contrary, he thinks the world much obliged to them for the progress they made in weeding out so great a number of blunders and mistakes as they have done, and probably he who hath carried on the work might never have thought of such an undertaking if he had not found a considerable part so done to his hands.
[2] From what causes it proceeded that the works of this Author in the first publication of them were more injured and abused than perhaps any that ever pass'd the Press, hath been sufficiently explained in the Preface to Mr. Pope's Edition which is here subjoined, and there needs no more to be said upon that subject. This only the Reader is desired to bear in mind, that as the corruptions are more numerous and of a grosser kind than can well be conceived but by those who have looked nearly into them; so in the correcting them this rule hath been most strictly observed, not to give a loose to fancy, or indulge a licentious spirit of criticism, as if it were fit for any one to presume to judge what Shakespear ought to have written, instead of endeavouring to discover truly and retrieve what he did write : and so great caution hath been used in this respect, that no alterations have been made but what the sense necessarily required, what the measure of the verse often helped to point out, and what the similitude of words in the false reading and in the true, generally speaking, appeared very well to justify.
[3] Most of those passages are here thrown to the bottom of the page and rejected as spurious, which were stigmatized as such in Mr. Pope's Edition; and it were to be wished that more had then undergone the same sentence. The promoter of the present Edition hath ventured to discard but few more upon his own judgment, the most considerable of which is that wretched piece of ribaldry in King Henry V. put into the mouths of the French Princess and an old Gentlewoman, improper enough as it is all in French and not intelligible to an English audience, and yet that perhaps is the best thing that can be said of it. There can be no doubt but a great deal more of that low stuff which disgraces the works of this great Author, was foisted in by the Players after his death, to please the vulgar audiences by which they subsisted: and though some of the poor witticisms and conceits must be supposed to have fallen from his pen, yet as he hath put them generally into the mouths of low and ignorant people, so it is to be remember'd that he wrote for the Stage, rude and unpolished as it then was; and the vicious taste of the age must stand condemned for them, since he hath left upon record a signal proof how much he despised them. In his Play of The Merchant of Venice a Clown is introduced quibbling in a miserable manner, upon which one who bears the character of a man of sense makes the following reflection : How every fool can play upon a word! I think the best grace of wit will shortly turn into silence, and discourse grow commendable in none but parrots. He could hardly have found stronger words to express his indignation at those false pretences to wit then in vogue; and therefore though such trash is frequently interspersed in his writings, it would be unjust to cast it as an imputation upon his taste and judgment and character as a Writer.
[4] There being many words in Shakespear which are grown out of use and obsolete, and many borrowed from other languages which are not enough naturalized or known among us, a Glossary is added at the end of the work, for the explanation of all those terms which have hitherto been so many stumbling-blocks to the generality of Readers; and where there is any obscurity in the text not arising from the words but from a reference to some antiquated customs now forgotten, or other causes of that kind, a note is put at the bottom of the page to clear up the difficulty.
[5] With these several helps if that rich vein of sense which runs through the works of this Author can be retrieved in every part and brought to appear in its true light, and if it may be hoped without presumption that this is here effected ; they who love and admire him will receive a new pleasure, and all probably will be more ready to join in doing him justice, who does great honour to his country as a rare and perhaps a singular Genius : one who hath attained an high degree of perfection in those two great branches of Poetry, Tragedy and Comedy, different as they are in their natures from each other ; and who may be said without partiality to have equalled, if not excelled, in both kinds, the best writers of any age or country who have thought it glory enough to distinguish themselves in either.
[6] Since therefore other nations have taken care to dignify the works of their most celebrated Poets with the fairest impressions beautified with the ornaments of sculpture, well may our Shakespear be thought to deserve no less consideration : and as a fresh acknowledgment hath lately been paid to his merit, and a high regard to his name and memory, by erecting his Statue at a publick expence ; so it is desired that this new Edition of his works, which hath cost some attention and care, may be looked upon as another small monument designed and dedicated to his honour.
From the Wikipedia article on Sir Thomas Hanmer:
Sir Thomas Hanmer (September 24, 1677 - May 7, 1746) was the fourth baronet of Hanmer, Flintshire and Speaker of the House of Commons from 1714 to 1715, discharging the duties of the office with conspicuous impartiality. He is, however, perhaps best remembered as being one of the early editors of the works of William Shakespeare.
He was one of the founding governors of the Foundling Hospital, a charity set up for London's abandoned children in 1739, which also became a centre for the arts.
Hanmer's Shakespeare was published at Oxford in 1744, with nearly forty illustrations by Francis Hayman and Hubert Gravelot. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature states that "The print and binding were magnificent, and caused its value to rise to nine guineas, when Warburton’s edition was going for eighteen shillings."
Hanmer's editing, however, was based on his own selection of emendations from the Shakespeare editions of Alexander Pope and Lewis Theobald, along with his own conjectures, without indicating for the reader what was in his source texts and what was editorially corrected. Therefore Hanmer's edition is not highly regarded today, with the editors of The Oxford Shakespeare assessing it in William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion as "one of the worst in the eighteenth century."
Also, Hamner became the target of ridicule by Pope, who in his Dunciad lampoons him under the name Montalto (Book IV, 105ff.) and refers to him in a note (IV 113) as "An eminent person, who was about to publish a very pompous Edition of a great Author, at his own expense" (emphasis original).
However, there are some emendations of value that were made by Hanmer which have been accepted into later editions of Shakespeare.
I have not yet been able to find Hanmer's original 1743-44 edition on the Internet. There were reprints of Hanmer's text by other publishers in 1747, 1748, 1751 and 1760. In 1770-71 Oxford University Press published a second edition of Hanmer's text. (See Andrew Murphy's Shakespeare in Print, pp. 6-7 for details). There is some indication the original will be available through Google Book Search. When it is, I will place the links here.
