Who was George Steevens and why is he important to Shakespeare scholarship?
George Steevens (1736-1800) was an English writer and Shakespearean scholar best known for collaborating with Samuel Johnson and Isaac Reed to produce The Plays of Shakespeare with the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators (1773). His later fifteen-volume edition became the basis of the first variorum edition of Shakespeare, re-issued in 1803 and reprinted in 1813, which set a standard format followed by scholars for generations.
What was George Steevens's relationship with Samuel Johnson?
Samuel Johnson was impressed by Steevens's 1766 reprints of Shakespeare's quarto editions and suggested Steevens prepare a complete edition of Shakespeare. Their joint ten-volume edition appeared in 1773, though Johnson's contributions to it were described as very slight. Johnson later said that Steevens had come to live the life of an outlaw, yet remained one of his staunchest friends.
Why did George Steevens exclude Shakespeare's sonnets from his edition?
Steevens excluded Shakespeare's sonnets and poems from his edition on the grounds that "the strongest act of parliament that could be framed would fail to compel readers into their service." He regarded them as works that no reader could be induced to engage with, a judgment that proved spectacularly wrong in the long run.
What hoaxes did George Steevens carry out?
Steevens wrote a fabricated account of the Java upas tree, attributing it to an imaginary Dutch traveller, which deceived Erasmus Darwin. He also presented the Society of Antiquaries with a fake tombstone of the medieval king Hardicanute, supposedly dug up in Kennington but actually engraved with an Anglo-Saxon inscription of his own invention. He also sent anonymous items to the Public Advertiser to manipulate the contest over who would serve as Samuel Johnson's official biographer.
Where did George Steevens live and how did he spend his daily routine?
Steevens lived on Hampstead Heath, where he kept a library rich in Elizabethan literature and a large collection of Hogarth prints. He walked from Hampstead to London every morning before seven o'clock, discussed Shakespearean questions with Isaac Reed, made his rounds of the booksellers' shops, and then returned to Hampstead.
What is the first variorum edition of Shakespeare and how is Steevens connected to it?
The first variorum edition of Shakespeare is the 1803 re-issue, prepared by Isaac Reed in 21 volumes, of Steevens's fifteen-volume edition, incorporating additional notes Steevens left at his death. It was reprinted in 1813. The variorum format, which collects the annotations and emendations of multiple commentators, developed directly from the 1773 edition Steevens produced with Johnson and Reed.