George Steevens
(1736 - 1800)

George Steevens

• Introduction
• Steevens as an editor, from J. Norris Parker
• Steevens' Twenty Plays
• Steevens' Advertisement to the Reader, prefaced to Twenty of the plays...
• Links to Johnson-Steevens 1, 1773
• Links to Johnson Steevens 2, 1778
• Steevens' Advertisement to the Reader from the 1773-1778 edition
• Links to the Reed edition of 1785, also known as Johnson-Steevens-Reed 3, or the "third edition" of Johnson-Steevens
• Reed's Advertisement to the 1785 edition, where he describes Steevens' role
• Links to "Steevens own edition" of 1793, also known as Johnson-Steevens 4
• Steevens' Advertisement to the Reader, prefaced to the 1793 edition, wherein he argues for the authority of the Second Folio contra-Malone
• Links to the Reed Edition of 1803, also known as Johnson-Steevens-Reed 5, or the "fifth edition" of Johnson-Steevens, or the "first variorum edition"
• Links to the Reed Edition of 1813, also known as Johnson-Steevens-Reed 6, or the "sixth edition" of Johnson-Steevens, or the "second variorum edition"

Steevens was educated at Eton and then at King's College, Cambridge. He left King's College in 1756 without taking a degree. After Cambridge, he maintained chambers in the Inner Temple, and then took a house on Hampstead Heath.  He was enamored of Elizabethan literature, and accumulated a large personal library which, at his death, was sold, many volumes passing into the possession of the British Museum.

Shakespeare as an editor, from J. Parker Norris, Shakespeareana, vol. III, 1886, p. 311-319.

One of the best known among those who have edited Shakespeare's works is George Steevens. He was the only son of George Steevens, Esq., of Stepney, who was formerly a Captain in the East India Company, and afterwards a Director in the same corporation. George Steevens, the younger, was born at Stepney, on May10th, 1736, and educated at King's College, Cambridge. He had an excellent classical education, and his memory was such that he could repeat passages from Greek and Latin poets with facility. He was a very witty man, and practical jokes were his special delight. His most celebrated one was his attempt to deceive the Society of Antiquaries. He caused to be made a coarse marble stone, on which was inscribed Saxon letters, reciting that it was a portion of the sarcophagus of Hardicanute. This was taken to a founder's house in Southwark, and a story set in circulation that a wonderful curiosity had been found. A number of antiquarians called to see it, and were anxious to purchase it. The man was instructed to say, however, that it was not for sale, as he was too fond of antiquities himself to part with it. They were permitted to take drawings of it, and a carefully executed facsimile of it was made by Jacob Schnebbelie. The formation of the letters, and the wording of the inscription were pronounced to be indicative of its genuineness. The joke was discovered in time to prevent the appearance, however, of a learned comment on the supposed Saxon inscription, which was prepared by the learned Dr. Pegge. The stone was finally taken to Sir Joseph Banks' house, where it was exhibited to his friends, and much merriment was had at the expense of the learned gentleman who had been so completely fooled.

He possessed an ample fortune, and was enabled to purchase a very valuable library, which, in addition to being rich in Elizabethan works, contained a Second Folio edition of Shakespeare which had formerly belonged to King Charles I. He also owned the First, Third, and Fourth Folios, and a remarkable collection of the Quartos. His library was sold after his death.

He died January 22nd, 1800, and was buried in Poplar Chapel, London. A monument to his memory was executed by Flaxman, and erected in the same church. It represents him seated on a bench, contemplating a wretched looking bust of Shakespeare, while some books, paper, and pens are on a table near at hand. Underneath the monument is this inscription :

In the middle aisle of this chapel lie the remains of George Steevens, Esq. who, after having cheerfully employed a considerable portion of his life and fortune in the illustration of Shakespeare, expired at Hampstead the 22nd day of January, 1800, in his 64th year.

Peace to these reliques, once the bright attire
Of spirits sparkling with no common fire;
How oft has pleasure in the social hour
Smil'd at his wit's exhilarating power;
And truth attested with delight intense
The serious charms of his colloquial sense :
His talents, varying as the diamond's ray,
Could strike the grave, or fascinate the gay.
His critic labours of unwearied force
Collected light from every distant source ;
Want with such true beneficence he cheer'd,
All that his bounty gave, his zeal endear'd ;
Learning as vast as mental power could seize,
In sport displaying, and with graceful ease ;
Lightly the stage of chequer'd life he trod,
Carless of chance, confiding in his God.

In 1788 Steevens published a work entitled :

Twenty of the plays of Shakespeare, Being the whole Number printed in Quarto During his Life-time, or before the Restoration, Collated where there were different Copies, and Published from the Originals, By George Steevens, Esq., in Four Volumes…

In this work Steevens reprinted A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1800, the Roberts edition, and collated it with the Fisher edition of x800 ; The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1819 ; The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1830 ; Much Ado about Nothing, 1800 ; The Merchant of Venice, 1600 ; the Roberts edition, collated with the Heyes edition of 1800 ; Love's Labour's Lost, 1831 ; The Taming of the Shrew, 1831 ; King Lear, 1608 ; The Troublesome Raigue of King John, 181 I ; Richard II., 1815 ; collated with Wise's edition of 1598, and with Norton's edition of 1834; I Henry IV, 1813, collated with Wise's edition of 1599, Norton's edition of 1832, and Perry's edition of 1839 ; 2 Henry IV, 1800 ; Henry V, 1608 ; The Whole Con¬tention between the two famous Houses Lancaster and Yorke, and the Second Part ; Richard III, 1812, collated with Wise's editions of 1598 and 5602, Purfoot's edition of 5624, and Norton's editions of 5629 and 1634; Titus Andronicus, 1611 ; Troilus and Cressida, 1809; Romeo and Juliet, 1597; Romeo and Juliet, 1609; Hamlet, 1611, collated with N. L.'s edition of 1805, and Smethwicke's editions of 1637 and undated copy ; Othello, 1622; The Sonnets, 1809; and The True Chronicle History of King Leir, 1805.

Steevens performed a real service to students of Shakespeare in thus -reprinting so many of the Quartos, and for nearly a hundred years they remained the only reprints of these extremely rare little hooks that were published.
In 1773 Steevens issued what was really his first edition of Shakespeare. It was in ten volumes octavo, fairly well printed on ribbed paper. The title page in the first volume reads thus :

The Plays of William Shakespeare. In Ten Volumes. With the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators; To which are added Notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. With an Appendex…

A very poor copy of the Chandos portrait, engraved by G. Vertue is also in the first volume.

Dr. Johnson's preface is printed entire, and is followed by an " Advertisement to the Reader," by Steevens. This occupies eleven pages, and is followed by a list of ancient translations from classic authors. For the preparation of the latter Steevens acknowledges the assistance of Farmer. Then came Heminge and Condell's dedication and preface, and the prefaces of Pope, Theobold, Hanmer, and Warburton. The " Advertisement to the Reader " prefixed to Steevens reprint of the Quartos etc., is next given, and is followed by Rowe's Life of Shakespeare. The grant of arms to the poet's father, Shakespeare's will, extracts from the Register of the Holy Trinity Church at Stratford-on-Avon, and the commendatory poems from the First and Second Folios follow. Then a table of old editions of the plays is given. This preliminary matter occupies nearly half of the first volume. After it are printed the plays in the order that they are given in the First Folio. At the bottom of the pages are given the notes, each of which is signed with the name of the editor who wrote it.
At the end of the tenth volume there are printed two appendices consisting of eighty-nine pages, and containing notes by Warton, Tollet, Warner, Percy, Collins, Dr. James, Sir J. Hawkins, Steevens, and Dr. Farmer.

Although this edition bore the name of Dr. Johnson as well as that of Steevens on its title-page, it was really prepared and edited entirely by the latter. Dr. Johnson's name continued on the title-pages of Stevens' later editions, but it seems to have retained its place there on account of the learned gentleman's literary reputation, and not because he had anything to do with the editing of them.

In 1778 a second edition by Stevens appeared, in ten volumes octavo. The title-page is as follows :

The Plays of William Shakespeare. In ten volumes. With the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators; to which are added Notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The Second Edition, Revised and Augmented...

The first volume contained a well engraved copy of the Droeshout print, in which some variations from the original have been made by the engraver, however. There is also given a very good engraving of Marshall's copy of the Droeshout, and facsimiles of Shakespeare's signatures.

Dr. Johnson's preface came first, then Steevens' " Advertisement to the Reader," which is the same as in the 1773 edition with the exception of a few notes which he added to it, and an extract from Decker's Guls Hornbook. Then follows the list of ancient translations from classic authors, the dedication and preface from the First Folio ; the prefaces of Pope, Theobald, Hanmer, Warburton, and Steevens' " Advertisement," etc. which was prefixed to his reprint of the quartos. Then comes Rowe's life of Shakespeare ; the poet's will ; extracts from Oldys ; the Register of baptisms, burials, etc. at Stratford ; extracts from Granger's History of England; the commendatory verses on the poet, from the First and Second Folios, etc.; lists of early editions of the plays and poems, of works on Shakespeare etc., extracts from the books of the Stationer's Company ; and Malone's "Attempt to ascertain the order in which the plays attributed to Shakespeare were written."

The additional notes which were given in appendices in the 1773 edition are printed in their proper places in this 1778 edition, and Steevens made some few additions to his notes and changes in the text, but they are comparatively unimportant, and the work is mainly a reprint of the former edition.

In 1785 a reprint of the 1773 and 1778 editions was published, in ten volumes octavo. It was edited by Isaac Reed, who states in the preliminary "advertisement" to the first volume that Steevens declined to edit the work. Both Dr. Johnson's and Steevens' names were retained on the title-page however, and the changes that were made in this edition are comparatively slight.

Steevens seems to have given up all idea of publishing another edition of the poet's works, as he wrote Malone about 1783: "I never mean to appear again as editor of Shakspeare ; nor will such assistance as I am able to furnish go towards any future gratuitous publication. Ingratitude and impertinence from several of the book-sellers have been my reward for conducting two laborious editions, both of which are sold." He afterwards changed his mind, however, for, in 1793 another edition was issued under the immediate superintendence of Steevens. It is in fifteen volumes octavo, and the first title-page to Volume I reads :

The Plays of William Shakespeare. In Fifteen Volumes. With the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators. To which are added, Notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The Fourth Edition. Revised and aug¬mented (With a Glossarial Index) by the Editor of Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays…

This work is familiarly known as "Steevens' own edition," and it is a wonderful monument to his learning, ability and perseverance. It is the foundation on which the variorum editions of 1803, 1813 and 1821 were built. No portrait of the poet was published with it, as Steevens remarks that "the only portraits of him that even pretends to authenticity by means of injudicious cleaning, or some other accident has become little better than the shadow of a shade." Steevens here referred to the Chandos portrait, and it shows how little he thought of the Stratford bust and the Droeshout engraving. In later years he was an ardent advocate of the Felton portrait, or at least he pretended to be; for there were not wanting those who declared that he knew more concerning its history than he chose to tell.

The "advertisement," written by Steevens, occupies thirty-six pages, and is composed in his happiest vein. A rival of great ability had entered the field of Shakespearian editorship in the person of Edmond Malone, whose edition of the poet's works was published in 1790. Steevens seems to have come forth from his retirement to give battle to this editor, and the edition of 1793 appears to have been prepared with the object of showing to the world how wrong Malone was in many points. The latter had looked upon the First Folio with especial reverence, in the advertisement to the 1793 edition Steevens argued that the Second Folio was its superior.

Following the "advertisement " is four pages of addenda, then is given Rowe's life of Shakespeare ; additional anecdotes of the poet from Oldys ; extracts from the Stratford Register ; Shakespeare's coat of arms ; his mortgage ; his will ; the dedication and preface from the First Folio; the preface of Pope, Theobald, Warburton, Dr. Johnson ; Steevens' advertisement to his Twenty Plays; Capell's introduction ; Steevens' advertisement to his 773 and 1778 editions ; the preface of Mason to his Comments, 1785 ; Reed's advertisement to the 1785 edition ; Malone's preface ; extracts from the Stationers' Registers' lists of old editions of Shakespeare's plays and poems ; plays altered from Shakespeare ; Malone's essays on the chronological order of the plays, and on Shakespeare, Ford and Jonson.

The second volume (whose title-page reads " The Plays of William Shakspeare " etc. without Steevens' name, etc.,) consists of Farmer's essay on the learning of Shakespeare ; list of ancient translations ; Malone's very able history of the stage ; and poems on the poet. At the end of the second volume there is also printed a table of contents of the whole work. The third volume contains the glossarial index, and then the plays commence. They are printed in the order of the First Folio, and fill the third and succeeding volumes. Twenty-five copies were printed on large paper.

In this edition the notes are much more voluminous than in the previous ones, and they are often much improved. When this work was passing through the press Steevens devoted his whole time to it, and the entire fifteen thick octavo volumes were printed in a little more than eighteen months. It is related of Steevens that he left his house every morning at one o'clock A. M. and went to the printing office where he received his proof-sheets, and then proceeded to the residence of his friend Isaac Reed. He had a latch key which opened the door of the latter, and there he found a room ready for him, with access his friend's splendid library. In this way he was enabled to make rapid progress with his work, and the printers were not kept waiting for his corrections.

It is by the 1793 edition that Steevens should be judged, and as before stated, it is a wonderful monument to his learning and ability. He ransacked the literature of Shakespeare's day for passages illustrative of the poet's text. Many an allusion which was familiar enough to the poet's contemporaries, but which had been lost sight of by succeeding generations, was explained by Steevens by means of passages from old writers brought forward by him. He could not restrain his wit however, and his love of practical jokes. This latter fact often carried him too far. Take for instance his treatment of the Reverend Richard Amner. This gentleman was a highly respectable Dissenting clergyman of Hampstead, who had in some manner incurred Steevens' ill will. The latter hit upon an ingenious but very cruel method of punishment for his reverend opponent. All the indecent notes which Steevens wrote, (and they are unfortunately many, for his extensive knowledge of Elizabethan literature enabled him to pick out much that was not refined, ) were signed Amner. This cruel joke mortified the inoffensive minister so much that the closing days of his life were embittered by it, and his name has gone down to posterity as the author of notes that fairly make one blush to read.

Note too, how Steevens attacked the authority of the First Folio:

But as we are often reminded by "our brethren of the craft," that this or that emendation, however apparently necessary, is not the genuine text of Shakespeare, it might be imagined that we had received this text from its fountain head, and are therefore certain of its purity. Whereas few literary occurances are better understood, than that it came down to us discoloured by "the variation of every trough" through which it had flowed, and that it stagnated at last in the muddy reservoir of the first folio. In plainer terms, that the vitiations of a careless theatre were recorded by those of as ignorant a press. The integrity of dramas thus prepared for the world, is just on a level with the innocence of females nursed in a camp and educated in a bagnio. As often therefore as we are told, that by admitting corrections warranted by common sense and the laws of metre, we have not rigidly adhered to the text of Shakspeare, we shall entreat our opponents to exchange that phrase for another "more germane," and say instead of it, that we have deviated from the text of the publishers of single plays in quarto, or their successors, the editors of the first folio; that we have sometimes followed the suggestions of a Warburton, a Johnson, a Farmer, or a Tyrwhitt, in preference to the decisions of a Hemings or a Condell, notwithstanding their choice of readings might have been influenced by associates whose high-sounding names cannot fail to enforce respect, ie. William Ostler, John Shanke, William Sly, and Thomas Poope.

Thus he shot his shafts of wit, not caring whom he hit, and Shakespeare himself was not secure from his pleasantry. In none of his editions had Steevens printed the Sonnets or poems, but Malone having done so in his edition of 1790, the former remarks :
We have not reprinted the Sonnets, &c. of Shakespeare, because the strongest Act of Parliament that could be framed, would fail to compel readers into their service; notwithstanding these miscellaneous Poems have derived every possible advantage from the literature and judgement of their only intelligent editor, Mr. Malone, whose implements of criticism, like the ivory rake and the golden spade in Prudentius, are on this occasion disgraced by the objects of their culture. Had Shakspeare produced no other works than these, his name would have reached us with as little celebrity as time has conferred on that of Thomas Watson, an older and much more elegant sonnetteer.

Had Steevens been able to forsee the great interest that these very Sonnets were destined to excite among a later generation, who have pondered over and studied them for years, perhaps he would have hesitated before writing himself down an ass as he did in the foregoing passage.

John Collins, the friend of Capell, who selected him to edit his Notes and Various Readings, accused Steevens of plagiarism from Capell. Steevens indignantly denied the charge. There is probably little doubt, however, that the latter profited by the great familiarity with Elizabethan literature possessed by Capell, and that he did not acknowledge his indebtedness as he should have done. No proofs were produced by Collins, and Steevens having denied the accusation, the latter's word must be taken as final.
After Steevens' death many editions of the poet's works were published which had his text for a basis. Some of them were slightly revised, but many reprints were verbatim as to the text, and a selection of, or omission of all his notes. Prominent among these were Reed's Variorum of 1803, in twenty-one volumes, which was printed from a corrected copy for the press by Steevens. Also the Variorum of 1813, in twenty-one volumes.

When Boydell published his magnificent edition of Shakespeare, in nine volumes atlas folio, (1802) Steevens' text was used. Of the countless editions which were printed after this date, and which adopt Steevens' text it would be useless to speak.

J. PARKER NORRIS.

Steevens' Twenty Plays

In 1766 George Steevens published Twenty of the plays of Shakespeare, being the whole number printed in quarto during his life-time, or before the restoration, collated where there were different copies, and published from the originals, by George Steevens, Esq., in four volumes.  Very fortunately Google Book Search has digitized these works and they can be accessed in facsimile using the links below.  Garrick provided most of the texts for this collection.  Steevens was the first to recognize the importance of printed preservation of these early texts.  In addition to the twenty plays, he also provided the text of the 1609 edition of the Sonnets, correcting the serious corruption inflicted by Charles Gildon in his supplement to Rowe's edition of 1709 (the Rowe "volume VII") where Gildon chose the corrupt 1640 Benson copy of the Sonnets to reproduce rather than the 1609 first edition. Gildon's choice became the 18th century printed standard until Steevens.  Oddly enough--though not so odd when one gets to know the perverse quirks of Steevens' character--he later dropped interest in the Sonnets when his great enemy Malone's interest in them grew, commenting that "...the strongest act of Parliament that could be framed, would fail to compel readers into their service."  History has disagreed.

• Volume I
  • Advertisement to the Reader;
  • A List of the Old Editions of Shakespeare's Plays;
  • A Midsommer Nights Dream (1600);
  • A MOST Pleasant and Excellent Conceited COMEDY, oF Sir JOHN FALSTAFFE, AND THE Merry Wives of Windsor. WITH THE Swaggering Vaine of Ancient PISOLL, and Corporall NYM... (1619);
  • THE Merry Wives of Windsor, With the HUMOURS of Sir JOHN FALSTAFFE, AS ALSO, The Swaggering Vaine of Ancient PISTOLL, and Corporall NYM... (1630);
  • Title page of the 1602 quarto of The Merry Wives of Windsor (Q1);
  • Much adoe about Nothing (1600);
  • The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice, Extreme Cruelty of SHYLOCKE the IEW towards the saide MERCHANT, in cutting a just Pound of his Flesh. And the obtaining of PORTIA, by the Choyse of Three Caskets (1600);
  • Loves Labours Lost, a Wittie and Pleasant Comedie... (1631).
• Volume II
  • A Wittie and Pleasant Comedie Called The Taming of the Shrew... (1631);
  • M. WILLIAM SHAKE-SPEARE, His True Chronicle HISTORY OF THE LIFE and DEATH of King Lear, and his Three Daughters. WI TH THE Unfortunate Life of EDGAR, Sonne and Heire to the Earle of Glocester, and his fallen and assumed Humour of Tom of Bedlam... (1608);
  • The Troublesome Raigne of King John (1611);
  • The Tragedie of King Richard the Second (1615);
  • The History of Henry the Fourth, with the Battell at Shrewseburie, betweene the King, and Lord Henrie Percy sur-named Henrie Hotspur of the North. With the Humorous Conceites of Sir JOHN FALSTAFFE (1613);
  • The Second PART of HENRIE the Fourth, Continuing to his Death, And Coronation of Henrie the Fift. With the Humours of Sir John Falstaffe and swaggering Pistoll... (1600).
• Volume III
  • THE CHRONICLE HISTORY OF HENRY the Fife With his BATTELL fought at AGIN COURT in FRANCE. Together with ANCIENT PISTOLL... (1608);
  • THE WHOLE CONTENTION Berweene the Two famous Houses, LANCASTER and YORKE. With the tragicall Ends of the Good Duke Humfrey, Richard Duke of Yorke and King Henrie the sixt. - Divided into Two Parts: And newly corrected and enlarged. (ND);
  • THE TRAGEDIE OF King RICHARD the Third. CONTAINING His treacherous Plots against his Brother Clarence: the pittifull murther of his innocent Nephewes: his tyrannicall Usurpation: with the whole Course of his detested Life, and most deserved Death... (1612);
  • The Most Lamentable Tragedie of Titus Andronicus (1611);
  • THE FAMOUS HISTORIE OF TROYLUS and CRESSEID. Excellently expreffing The Beginning of their LOVES, WITH THE Conceited Wooing of PANDARUS Prince of Licia... (1609).
• Volume IV
  • An Excellent Conceited TRAGEDIE, oF ROMEO and IULIET... (1597);
  • The most Excellent and Lamentable TRAGEDIE, OF ROMEO and JULIET... (1609);
  • THE TRAGICALL HISTORIE OF HAMLET PRINCE of DENMARKE (1611);
  • THE TRAGOEDY OF OTHELLO, THE MOORE of VENICE... (1622);
  • SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS (1609);
  • A LOVERS COMPLAINT (included after Sonnet 154 in the 1609 edition);
  • THE TRUE CHRONICLE HISTORY OF KING LEIR, AND HIS THREE DAUGHTERS, GONORILL, RAGAN, and CORDELLA... (1605).

Steevens' "Advertisement to the Reader," prefaced to Twenty of the plays..., 1766

The plays of SHAKESPEARE have been so often republished, with every seeming advantage which the joint labours of men of the first abilities could procure for them, that one would hardly imagine they could stand in need of any thing beyond the illustration of some few dark passages. Modes of expression must remain in obscurity, or be retrieved from time to time, as chance may throw the books of that age into the hands of critics who shall make a proper use of them. Many have been of opinion that his language will continue obscure to all those who are unacquainted with the provincial expressions which they suppose him to have used ; but for my own part, I cannot believe but that those which are now local may once have been universal, and must have been the language of those persons before whom his plays were represented. However, it is certain that the instances of obscurity from this source are very few.

Some have been of opinion that even a particular syntax prevailed in the time of SHAKESPEARE ; but, as I do not recollect that any proofs were ever brought in support of that sentiment, I own I am of the contrary opinion.

In his time indeed a different arrangement of syllables had been introduced in imitation of the Latin, as we find in Ascham and the verb was very frequently kept back in the sentence ; but in SHAKESPEARE no marks of it are discernible: and though the rules of syntax were more strictly observed by the writers of that age than they have been since, He of all the number is perhaps the most ungrammatical. To make his meaning intelligible to his audience seems to have been his only care, and with the ease of conversation he has adopted its incorrectness.

The past editors, eminently qualified as they were by genius and learning for this undertaking, wanted induslry ; to cover which they published catalogues, transcribed at random, of a greater number of old copies than ever they can be supposed to have had in their possession ; when, at the same time, they never examined the few which we know they had, with any great degree of accuracy. The last Editor alone has dealt fairly with the world, in this particular ; he professes to have made use of no more than he had really seen, and has annexed a list of such to every play, together with a complete one of those supposed to be in being, at the conclusion of his work, whether he had been able to procure them for the service of it or not. 

For these reasons I thought it would not be unacceptable to the lovers of SHAKESPEARE to collate all the Quartos I could find, comparing one copy with the rest, where there were more than one of the fame play, and to multiply the chances of their being preserved, by collecting them into volumes, instead of leaving the few that have escaped, to share the fate of the rest which was probably hastened by their remaining in the form of pamphlets, their use and value being equally unknown to those into whose hands they fell.

Of some I have printed more than one copy; as there are many persons, who not contented with the possession of a finished picture of some great matter, are desirous to procure the first sketch that was made for it, that they may have the pleasure of tracing, the progress of the artist from the first light colouring to the finishing stroke. To such the earlier editions of KING JOHN, HENRY THE FIFTH, HENRY THE SIXTH, THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, and ROMEO AND JULIET, will, I apprehend, not be unwelcome ; since in these we may discern as much as will be found in the hasty outlines of the pencil, with a fair prospect of that perfection to which He brought every performance He took the pains to retouch.

The general character of the Quarto editions may more advantageously be taken from the words of Mr. POPE, than from any recommendation of my own.

"The folio edition (says he) in which all the plays we now receive as his were first collected, was published by two players, HEMINGES and CONDELL, in 1623, seven years after his decease. They declare that all the other editions were stolen and surreptitious, and affirm theirs to be purged from the errors of the former. This is true as to the literal errors, and no other, for in all respects else it is far worse than the quartos.

"First, because the additions of trifling and bombast passages are in this edition far more numerous. For whatever had been added since those quartos, by the actors, or had stolen from their mouths into the written parts, were from thence conveyed into the printed text, and all stand charged upon the author. He himself complained of this usage in HAMLET, where he wishes THOSE WHO PLAY "THE CLOWNS WOULD SPEAK NO MORE THAN IS SET DOWN FOR THEM (Act; 3. Sc. 4.)  But as a proof that he could not escape it, in the old editions of ROMEO AND JULIET, there is no hint of the mean conceits and ribaldries now to be found there. In others the scenes of the mobs, plebeians, and clowns are vastly shorter than at present ; and I have seen one in particular (which seems to have belonged to the playhouse, by having the parts divided by lines, and the actors names in the margin) where several of those very passages were added in a written hand, which since are to be found in the folio.

"In the next place, a number of beautiful passages were omitted which were extant in the first single editions ; as it seems without any other reason than their willingness to shorten some scenes."

To this I must add, that I cannot help looking on the Folio as having suffered other injuries from the licentious alteration of the players ; as we frequently find in it an unusual word changed into one more popular; sometimes to the weakening the sense, which rather seems to have been their work, who knew that plainness was necessary for the audience of an illiterate age, than that it was done by the consent of the author : for he would hardly have unnerved a line in his written copy, which they pretend to have transcribed, however he might have permitted many to have been familiarized in the representation. Were I to indulge my own private conjecture, I should suppose that his blotted manuscripts were read over by one to another among those who were appointed to transcribe them ; and hence it might easily happen, that words of similar founds, though of senses directly opposite, might be confounded with each other. They themselves declare that SHAKESPEARE'S time of blotting was past, and yet half the errors we find in their edition could not be merely typographical. Many of the Quarto's (as our own printers assure me) were far from being unskillfully executed, and some of them were much more correctly printed than the Folio, which was published at the charge of the same proprietors, whose names we find prefixed to the older copies : and I cannot join with Mr. POPE in acquitting that edition of more literal errors than those which went before it. The particles in it seem to be as fortuitously disposed, and proper names as frequently undistinguished by Italic or capital letters from the rest of the text. The punctuation is equally accidental; nor do I fee on the whole any greater marks of a skilful revisal, or the advantage of being printed from unblotted originals in the one, than in the other. One reformation indeed there seems to have been made, and that very laudable; I mean the substitution of more general terms for a name too often unnecessarily invoked on the stage  but no jot of obscenity is omitted : and their caution against prophaneness is, in my opinion, the only thing for which we are indebted to the judgment of the editors of the Folio.

How much may be done by the assistance of the old copies will now be easily known; but a more difficult task remains behind, which calls for other abilities than are requisite in the laborious collator.

From a diligent perusal of the comedies of contemporary authors, I am persuaded that the meaning of many expressions in SHAKESPEARE might be retrieved; for the language of conversation can only be expected co be preserved in works, which in their time assumed the merit of being pictures of men and manners. The stile of conversation we may suppose to be as much altered as that of books ; and in consequence of the change we have no other authorities to recur to in either case. Should our language ever be recalled to a strict examination, and the fashion become general of striving to maintain our old acquisitions instead of gaining new ones, which we shall be at last obliged to give up, or be encumbered with their weight ; it will then be lamented that no regular collection was ever formed of the old ENGLISH books ; from which, as from ancient repositories, we might recover Words and phrases as often as caprice or wantonness would call for variety, instead of thinking it necessary to adopt new ones, or barter solid strength for feeble splendor, which no language has long admitted, and retained its purity.

WE wonder that before the time of SHAKESPEARE, we find the stage in a state so barren of productions, but forget that we have hardly any acquaintance with the authors of that period, though some few of their dramatic pieces may remain. The fame might be almost said of the interval between that age and the age of DRYDEN, the performances of which, not being preserved in sets, or diffused as now, by the greater number printed, must lapse apace into the same obscurity.

Vixere fortes ante AGAMEMNONA
Multi—

and yet we are contented from a few specimens only to form our opinions of the genius of ages gone before us. Even while we are blaming the taste of that audience which received with applause the worst plays in the reign of CHARLES the second, we should consider that the few in possession of our theatre, which would never have been heard a second time had they been written now, were probably the best of hundreds which had been dismissed with general censure. The collection of plays, interludes, &c. made by Mr. GARRICK, with an intent to deposit them hereafter in some public library, will be considered as a valuable acquisition; for pamphlets have never yet been examined with a proper regard to posterity. Most of the obsolete pieces will be found on enquiry to have been introduced into libraries but some few years since; and yet those of the present age, which may one time or other prove as useful, are still entirely neglected. I would be remiss, I am sure, were I to forget my acknowledgments to the Gentleman I have just mentioned, to whose benevolence I owe the use of several of the scarcest Quarto's, which I could not otherwise have obtained ; though I advertised for them, with sufficient offers, as I thought, either to tempt the casual owner to sell, or the curious to communicate them ; but Mr. GARRICK'S zeal would not permit him to withhold any thing that might ever so remotely tend to shew the perfections of that author who could only have enabled him to display his own.

It is not merely to obtain justice to SHAKESPEARE, that I have made this collection, and advise others to be made. The general interest of ENGLISH literature, and the attention due to our own language and history, require that our ancient writings should be diligently reviewed. There is no age which has not produced some works that deserved to be remembered ; and as words and phrases are only understood by comparing them in different places, the lower writers must be read for the explanation of the highest. No language can be ascertained and settled, but by deducing its words from their original sources, and tracing them through their successive varieties of signification; and this deduction can only be performed by consulting the earliest and intermediate authors.

Enough has been already done to encourage us to do more. Dr. HICKES, by reviving the study of the SAXON language, seems to have excited a stronger curiosity after old ENGLISH writers, than ever had appeared before. Many volumes which were mouldering in dust have been collected ; many authors which were forgotten have been revived ; many laborious catalogues have been formed ; and many judicious glossaries compiled : the literary transactions of the darker ages are now open to discovery ; and the language in its intermediate gradations, from the Conquest to the Restoration, is better understood than in any former time.

To incite the continuance, and encourage the extension of this domestic curiosity, is one of the purposes of the present publication. In the plays it contains, the poet's first thoughts as well as words are preserved ; the additions made in subsequent impressions, distinguished in italics, and the performances themselves make their appearance with every typographical error, such as they were before they fell into the hands of the player editors. The various readings, which can only be-attributed to chance, are set down among the rest, as I did not chuse arbitrarily to determine for others which were useless, or which were valuable. And many words differing  only by the spelling, or serving merely to shew the difficulties which they to whose lot it first fell to disentangle their perplexities must have encountered, are exhibited with the rest. I must acknowledge that some few readings have slipped in by mistake, which can pretend to serve no purpose of illustration, but were introduced by confining myself to note the minutest variations of the copies, which soon convinced me that the oldest were in general the most correct. Though no proof can be given that the poet superintended the publication of any one of these himself, yet we have little reason to suppose that he who wrote at the command of ELIZABETH, and under the patronage of SOUTHAMPTON, was so very negligent of his fame as to permit the most incompetent judges, such as the players were, to vary at their pleasure what he had set down for the first single editions; and we have better grounds for a suspicion that his works did materially suffer from their presumptuous corrections after his death.

It is very well known, that before the time of SHAKESPEARE, the art of making title pages was practised with as much, or perhaps more success than it has been since. Accordingly, to all his plays we find long and descriptive ones, which when they were first published were of great service to the venders of them. Pamphlets of every kind were hawked about the streets, by a set of people resembling his own AUTOLYCUS, who proclaimed aloud the qualities of what they offered to sale, and might draw in many a purchaser by the mirth he was taught to expect from THE HUMOURS OF CORPORAL NYM, OR THE SWAGGERING VAINE OF AUNCIENT PISTOLL, who was not to be tempted by the representation of a fact merely historical. The players, however, laid aside the whole of this garniture, not finding it so necessary to procure success to a bulky volume, when the author's reputation was established, as it had been to bespeak attention to a few straggling pamphlets while it was yet uncertain. THE sixteen plays which are not in these volumes, remained unpublished till the Folio in the year 1623, though the compiler of a work called THEATRICAL RECORDS, mentions different single editions of every one of them before that time. But as no one of the editors could ever meet with such, nor has any one else pretended to have seen them, I think myself at liberty to suppose the compiler supplied the defects of the list out of his own imagination ; since he must have had singular good fortune to have been possessed of two or three different copies of all, when neither editors nor collectors, in the course of near fifty years, have been able so much as to obtain the sight of one of the number.

At the end of the last volume I have added a tragedy of KING LEIR, published before that of SHAKESPEARE, which it is not improbable he might have seen, as the father kneeling to the daughter, when she kneels to ask his blessing, is found in it; a circumstance two poets were not very likely to have hit on separately; and which seems borrowed by the latter with his usual judgment, it being the most natural passage in the old play; and is introduced in such a manner as to make it fairly his own. The ingenious editor of THE RELIQUES OF ANCIENT POETRY having never met with this play, and as it is not preserved in Mr. GARRICK'S collection, I thought it a curiosity worthy the notice of the public.

I have likewise reprinted SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS, from a copy published in 1609, by G. ELD, one of the printers of his plays ; which added to the consideration that they made their appearance with his name, and in his lifetime, seems to be no slender proof of their authenticity. The same evidence might operate in favour of several more plays which are omitted here, out of respect to the judgment of those who had omitted them before [Steevens refers here to the apocryphal plays added to the 1644 Third Folio].

It is to be wished, that some method of publication most favourable to the character of an author were once established ; whether we are to send into the world all his works without distinction, or arbitrarily to leave out what may be thought a disgrace to him. The first editors, who rejected PERICLES, retained TITUS ANDRONICUS ; and Mr. POPE, without any reason, named THE WINTER'S TALE, a play that bears the strongest marks of the hand of SHAKESPEARE, among those which he supposed to be spurious. Dr. WARBURTON has fixed a stigma on the three parts of HENRY THE SIXTH, and some others ;

Inde DOLABELLA est, atq; hinc ANTONIUS,

and all have been willing to plunder SHAKESPEARE, or mix up A BREED OF BARREN METAL with his purest ore.

JOSHUA BARNES, the editor of EURIPIDES, thought every scrap of his author so sacred, that he has preserved with the name of one of his plays, the only remaining word of it. The same reason indeed might be given in his favour, which caused the preservation of that valuable trisyllable ; which is, that it cannot be found in any other place in the GREEK language.

But this does not seem to have been his only motive, as we find he has to the full as carefully published several detached and broken sentences, the gleanings from scholiasts, which have no claim to merit of that kind ; and yet the author's works might be reckoned by some to be incomplete without them. If then this duty is expected from every editor of a GREEK or ROMAN poet, why is not the same insisted on in respect of an ENGLISH claffic ? But if the custom of preserving all, whether worthy of it or not, be MORE HONOURED IN THE BREACH THAN THE OBSERVANCE, the suppression at least would not be considered as a fault. The publication of such things as SWIFT had written merely to raise a laugh among his friends, has added something to the bulk of his works, but very little to his character as a writer. The four volumes that came out since Dr. HAWKESWORTH'S edition, not to look on them as a tax levied on the public (which I think one might without injustice) contain not more than sufficient to have made one of real value ; and there is a kind of disingenuity, not to give it a harsher title, in exhibiting what the author never meant should see the light ; for no motive, but a sordid one, can betray the survivors to make that public, which they themselves must be of opinion will be unfavourable to the memory of the dead.

Life does not often receive good unmixed with evil. The benefits of the art of printing are depraved by the facility with which scandal may be diffused, and secrets revealed ; and by the temptation by which traffic solicits avarice to betray the weaknesses of passion, or the confidence of friendship.

I cannot forbear to think these posthumous publication injurious to society. A man conscious of literary reputation will grow in time afraid to write with tenderness to his sister, or with fondness to his child ; or to remit on the slightest occasion, or most pressing exigence, the rigour of critical choice, and grammatical severity. That esteem which preserves his letters, will at last produce his disgrace ; when that which he wrote only to his friend or his daughter shall be laid open to the public.

There is perhaps sufficient evidence, that the plays n question, unequal as they may be to the rest, were written by SHAKESPEARE ; but the reason generally given for publishing the less correct pieces of an author, that it affords a more impartial view of a man's talents or way of thinking, than when we only see him in form, and prepared for our reception, is not enough to condemn an editor who thinks and practises otherwise. For what is all this to shew, but that every man is more dull at one time than another ; a fact which the world would have easily admitted, without asking any proofs in its support that might be destructive to an author's reputation.

To conclude ; if the work which this publication meant to facilitate, has been already performed, the satisfaction of knowing it to be so, may be obtained from hence ; if otherwise, let those who raised expeditions of correctness, and through negligence defeated them, be justly exposed by future editors, who will now be in possession of by far the greatest part of, what they might have enquired after for years to no purpose ; for in respect of such a number of the old Quarto's as are here exhibited, the first Folio is a common book. This advantage will at least arise, that future editors having equally recourse to the same copies, can challenge distinction and preference only by genius, capacity, industry, and learning. 

As I have only collected materials for future artists, I consider what I have been doing as no more than an apparatus for their use. If the public is inclined to receive it as such, I am amply rewarded for my trouble ; if otherwise, I mail submit with chearfulness to the censure which should equitably fall on an injudicious attempt ; having this consolation, however, that my design amounted to no more than a desire to encourage others to think of preferring the oldest editions of the ENGLISH writers, which are growing scarcer every day ; and to afford the world all the assistance or pleasure it can receive from the most authentic copies extant of its NOBLEST POET.

Links to Johnson-Steevens 1, 1773

The plays of William Shakespeare. In ten volumes. With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. With an appendix.

• Volume the First
  • Preface (by Dr. Johnson)
  • Advertisement to the Reader (by Steevens)
  • Ancient Translations from Classic Authors
  • Players' Dedication to the First Folio ("To the Most Noble and Incomparable...")
  • The Preface of the Players ("To the Great Variety of Readers")
  • Mr. Pope's Preface
  • Mr. Theobald's Preface
  • Sir T. Hanmer's Preface
  • Dr. Warburton's Preface
  • Advertisement to the Reader from Steeven's Twenty of the Plays...
  • Some Account of the Life, &c. of Mr. William Shakespeare Written by Mr. Rowe
  • Instrument of the Garter King at Arms re: the Shakespeare Coat of Arms
  • Shakespeare's Will
  • Pope's Anecdote from Rowe via Johnson about Shakespeare holding horses
  • Baptisms, Marriages and Burials of the Shakespeare Family
  • Commendatory Poems
  • A List of the Old Editions of Shakespeare's Plays
  • The Tempest
  • The Two Gentlemen of Verona
  • The Merry Wives of Windsor
• Volume the Second
  • Measure for Measure
  • The Comedy of Errors
  • Much Ado About Nothing
  • Love's Labour's Lost
• Volume the Third
  • A Midsummer-Nights Dream
  • The Merchant of Venice
  • As You Like It
  • The Taming of the Shrew
• Volume the Fourth
  • All's Well That Ends Well
  • Twelfth-Night: Or, What You Will
  • The Winter's Tale
  • Macbeth
• Volume the Fifth
  • The Life and Death of King John
  • The Life and Death of Richard II
  • The First Part of Henry IV. With the Life and Death of Henry, Sirnamed Hotspur
  • The Second Part of Henry IV. Containing His Death: and the Coronation of Henry V
• Volume the Sixth
  • The Life of Henry V
  • The First Part of Henry VI
  • The Second Part of Henry VI
  • The Third Part of Henry VI. With the Death of the Duke of York
• Volume the Seventh
  • The Life and Death of Richard III
  • The Life of Henry VIII
  • C. Marcius Coriolanus
• Volume the Eighth
  • Julius Caesar
  • Antony and Cleopatra
  • Timon of Athens
  • Titus Andronicus
• Volume the Ninth
  • Troilus and Cressida
  • Cymbeline
  • The Life and Death of King Lear
• Volume the Tenth
  • Romeo and Juliet
  • Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
  • Othello, The Moor of Venice
  • Appendix (containing notes unavailable at time of printing).

Links to Johnson Steevens 2, 1778

The plays of William Shakespeare in ten volumes, with corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added Notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens.  The Second Edition, Revised and Augmented, London, C. Bathurst, etc., 1778.

Steevens was assisted in bringing this edition forth by his friend and fellow editor Isaac Reed.  I have been able to find links to all of the 1778 volumes (several were found courtesy of Dr. Hardy Cook where my own efforts failed) except for volume V.  I have preferred Google Book Search links, and list them first where they exist, followed by a link to the same volume at the Internet Archive, where it could be found. If anyone finds links on Google Book Search or Internet Archive to the "missing" volumes, especially volume V, please contact me.  It is clear they must be there, but any sort of detailed, advanced sort will not yield links to them in the search results, and communications to GBS and IA have gone unanswered.  Both of these services have serious shortcomings in the way multi-volume works are indexed.

• Volume the First
  • Preface (by Dr. Johnson);
  • Advertisement to the Reader (by Steevens - with the notable encomium to Jacob Tonson, the publisher);
  • Ancient Translations from Classic Authors;
  • Appendix To Mr. Colman's Translation of Terence, Octavo Edition;
  • The Dedication of the Players;
  • The Preface of the Players;
  • Mr. Pope's Preface;
  • Mr. Theobald's Preface;
  • Sir T. Hanmer's Preface;
  • Dr. Warburton's Preface;
  • Advertisement to the Reader [Prefixed to Mr. Steevens's Edition of Twenty of the Old Quarto Copies of Shakespeare...];
  • Some Account of the Life, &c. of Mr. William Shakespeare. Written by Mr. Rowe;
  • John Shakespeare's Coat of Arms;
  • The License for acting, Granted by James the First to the Company at the Globe;
  •  Shakespeare's Will;
  • Pope's anecdote from Rowe about Shakespeare holding horses, added initially by Johnson;
  • Additional notes historical and biographical by Steevens and others;
  • Baptisms, Marriages and Burials of the Shakespeare Family;
  • Extracts from the Rev. Mr. Granger's Biographical History of England;
  • Ancient and Modern Commendatory Verses on Shakespeare;
  • Names of the Original Actors in the Plays;
  • A List of Such Ancient Editions of Shakespeare's Plays;
  • Modern Editions (with amounts paid to editors);
  • Old Editions of Shakespeare's Poems;
  • List of Plays Alter'd from Shakespeare;
  • List of Detached Pieces of Criticism on Shakespeare, His Editors, &c.;
  • Extracts of Entries on the Books of the Stationers' Company;
  • An Attempt to Ascertain the Order in which the Plays Attributed to Shakspeare Were Written (by Edmond Malone);
  • Contents;
  • Errata;
  • The Tempest;
  • Two Gentlemen of Verona;
  • The Merry Wives of Windsor.
• Volume the Second [and from Internet Archive]
  • Measure for Measure;
  • The Comedy of Errors;
  • Much Ado About Nothing;
  • Love's Labour's Lost.
• Volume the Third
  • Midsummer-Night's Dream
  • Merchant of Venice
  • As You Like It
  • Taming of the Shrew
• Volume the Fourth (from Internet Archive)
  • All's Well That Ends Well;
  • Twelfth-Night;
  • Winter's Tale;
  • Macbeth.
• Volume the Fifth
  • King John
  • King Richard II
  • King Henry IV Part First
  • King Henry IV Part Second
• Volume the Sixth (from Internet Archive)
  • King Henry V;
  • King Henry VI, Part 1;
  • King Henry VI, Part 2;
  • King Henry VI, Part 3.
• Volume the Seventh (Internet Archive)
  • King Richard III;
  • King Henry VIII;
  • Coriolanus.
• Volume the Eighth (Internet Archive)
  • Julius Caesar;
  • Antony and Cleopatra;
  • Timon of Athens;
  • Titus Andronicus.
• Volume the Ninth [and from Internet Archive]
  • Troilus and Cressida;
  • Cymbeline;
  • King Lear.
• Volume the Tenth [and from Internet Archive]
  • Romeo and Juliet;
  • Hamlet;
  • Othello.
  • Supplemental Note on Hamlet;
  • Accidental Omissions in Volume One.

Links to the Reed edition of 1785, also known as Johnson-Steevens-Reed 3, or the "third edition" of Johnson-Steevens.

 The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending a life of the poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, London, C. Bathurst, etc., 1785.

A very incomplete set exists at Google Book Search.  I have been able to find volumes II, VI and VII so far.  Google Book Search has serious shortcomings when handling multi-volume works, as almost all Shakespeare editions are.  If anyone should at any time find the other volumes in this set, please contact me with the links so I can complete the series.

• Volume the Second
  • Measure for Measure;
  • Comedy of Errors;
  • Much Ado About Nothing;
  • Love's Labour's Lost.
• Volume the Sixth
  • Henry V;
  • Henry VI, Part I;
  • Henry VI, Part II;
  • Henry VI, Part III.
• Volume the Seventh
  • Richard III;
  • King Henry VIII;
  • Coriolanus.

Links to "Steevens own edition" of 1793, also known as Johnson-Steevens 4.

The plays of William Shakspeare. In fifteen volumes. With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators. To which are added notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The Fourth Edition. Revised and Augmented, (with a Glossarial Index) by the Editor of Dodsley's Old Plays [Isaac Reed], London, T. Longman, etc., 1793.

Steevens "came out of retirement" as an editor of Shakespeare in order to use this publication as a platform for his disputes with Malone.

• Volume the First
  • Advertisement;
  • Addenda;
  • Some Account of the Life, &c., of Mr. William Shakspeare Written by Mr. Rowe;
  • Rowe's Anecdote to Pope via Johnson;
  • Additional Anecdotes of Shakspeare;
  • Stratford Register: Baptisms, Marriages and Burials of the Shakspeare Family;
  • Shakspeare's Coat of Arms;
  • Mortgage Made by Shakspeare A. D. 1612-13;
  • Shakspeare's Will;
  • The signatures on the will;
  • The Dedication of the Players;
  • The Preface of the Players;
  • Mr. Pope's Preface;
  • Mr. Theobald's Preface;
  • Sir Thomas Hanmer's Preface;
  • Dr. Warburton's Preface;
  • Dr. Johnson's Preface; [Note pages 248-249 are bound out of sequence]
  • Advertisement to the Reader, prefixed to Steevens' Twenty of the plays...;
  • Mr. Capell's Introduction;
  • Mr. Steevens's Advertisement to the Reader;
  • Preface to Mr. M. Mason's Comments, &c. 1785;
  • Mr. Reed's Advertisement Before the Third Edition, 1785;
  • Mr. Malone's Preface;
  • Extracts of Entries on the Books of the Stationers' Company;
  • A List of the Ancient Editions of Shakspeare's Plays;
  • A List of the Most Authentick Editions of Shakspeare's Poems;
  • Plays Ascribed to Shakspeare;
  • List of Plays Altered from Shakspeare;
  • Criticisms on Shakspeare, &c.;
  • An Attempt to Ascertain the Order in which the Plays of Shakspeare Were Written;
  • Shakspeare, Ford and Jonson;
• Volume the Second
  • An Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare, by Richard Farmer, D. D.;
  • Appendix to Mr. Colman's Translation of Terence;
  • Ancient Translations from Classick Authors;
  • An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the English Stage;
  • Additions;
  • Ancient and Modern Commendatory Verses on Shakspeare.
• Volume the Third
  • Glossarial Index;
  • The Tempest;
  • Two Gentlemen of Verona;
  • Merry Wives of Windsor.
• Volume the Fourth
  • Twelfth-Night: Or, What You Will;
  • Measure for Measure;
  • Much Ado About Nothing.
• Volume the Fifth
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream;
  • Love's Labour's Lost;
  • Merchant of Venice.
• Volume the Sixth
  • As you Like It;
  • All's Well That Ends Well;
  • The Taming of the Shrew.
• Volume the Seventh
  • Winter's Tale;
  • Comedy of Errors;
  • Macbeth.
• Volume the Eighth
  • King John;
  • King Richard II;
  • King Henry IV, Part I.
• Volume the Ninth
  • King Henry IV, Part II;
  • King Henry V;
  • King Henry VI, Part I.
• Volume the Tenth [If you can find this volume at Google Book Search or Internet Archive, please contact me with the link.]
  • King Henry VI, Part II;
  • King Henry VI, Part III;
  • King Richard III.
• Volume the Eleventh
  • King Henry VIII;
  • Troilus and Cressida;
  • Timon of Athens.
• Volume the Twelfth
  • Coriolanus;
  • Julius Caesar;
  • Antony and Cleopatra.
• Volume the Thirteenth
  • Cymbeline;
  • Titus Andronicus;
  • Pericles.
• Volume the Fourteenth
  • King Lear;
  • Romeo and Juliet.
• Volume the Fifteenth
  • Hamlet;
  • Othello.

Links to the Reed Edition of 1803, also known as Johnson-Steevens-Reed 5, or the "fifth edition" of Johnson-Steevens, or the "first variorum edition".

The plays of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators, to which are added notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens.  The Fifth Edition.  Revised and Augmented by Isaac Reed, with a Glossarial Index. London, J. Johnson, etc., 1803

• Volume I

Links to the Reed Edition of 1813, also known as Johnson-Steevens-Reed 6, or the "sixth edition" of Johnson-Steevens, or the "second variorum edition".

The plays of William Shakespeare; in twenty-one volumes, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators, to which are added notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens, Revised and Augmented by Isaac Reed with a Glossarial Index, Sixth Edition, London, J. Nichols and Sons; etc., 1813.

The following links are from the Internet Archive, which does not permit linking into the works online.  Unfortunately, in view of the importance of this edition for subsequent nineteenth century editions, the second, third and seventeenth volumes are not available at the Internet Archive or at Google Book Search.  If anyone should at any time find it, please contact me with the link so I can complete the series.

• Volume I - Prefatory material as with the previous editions with new material by Reed, Richardson, and Malone.
• Volume II - Essays by Farmer, Colman, lists of Editions, lists of Criticism, Commendatory verses, Malones "Attempt to Ascertain the Order of Shakespeare's Plays," Malone's essay on Ford's pamphlet, Steevens' remarks on the same.
• Volume III - Malone's Historical Account of the English Stage, and the Further Historical Account by Chalmers.
• Volume IV - The Tempest; Two Gentlemen of Verona; Midsummer Night's Dream.
• Volume V - Merry Wives of Windsor; Twelfth Night.
• Volume VI - Much Ado About Nothing; Measure for Measure.
• Volume VII - Love's Labour's Lost; Merchant of Venice.
• Volume VIII - As You Like It; All's Well That Ends Well.
• Volume IX - Taming of the Shrew; Winter's Tale.
• Volume X - Macbeth; King John.
• Volume XI - King Richard II; King Henry IV, Part 1.
• Volume XII - King Henry IV, Part 2; King Henry V.
• Volume XIII - King Henry VI, Part 1; King Henry IV, Part 2.
• Volume XIV - King Henry VI, Part 3; Dissertation, &c.; King Richard III.
• Volume XV - King Henry VIII; Troilus and Cressida;
• Volume XVI - Coriolanus; Julius Caesar.
• Volume XVII - Antony and Cleopatra; King Lear.
• Volume XVIII - Hamlet; Cymbeline.
• Volume XIX - Timon of Athens; Othello.
• Volume XX - Romeo and Juliet; Comedy of Errors.
• Volume XXI - Titus Andronicus; Pericles, and Dissertations; Addenda, and Glossarial Index.

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