Spelling of Shakespeare's name
On the 11th of May 1612, William Shakespeare signed a legal deposition in the Bellott v Mountjoy case. The document bears his mark as Willm Shakp. Three years later on the 10th of March 1613 he purchased a house in Blackfriars London and wrote William Shaksper on that deed. He mortgaged the same property just one week after the purchase on the 11th of March 1613 using the form Wm Shakspe. His final will dated the 25th of March 1616 contains three separate signatures across its pages. These read William Shakspere followed by another instance of William Shakspere and finally By me William Shakspeare.
These six surviving autographs appear on four distinct legal documents from the last five years of his life. Most use abbreviated forms like Willm or Wm which was standard practice for scribes of the Elizabethan era. Edmund Spenser often wrote Ed: spser or Edm: spser to save space on paper. The signature found on the fly-leaf of John Florio's translation of Montaigne reads Willm Shakspere but scholars now consider it inauthentic despite earlier acceptance until the late 20th century. A possibly genuine mark appears on William Lambarde's Archaionomia published in 1568 though it remains smudged and difficult to decipher as Shakspere.
Fifty-eight quarto editions of Shakespeare's plays appeared before the First Folio collected in 1623. On twenty of these plays the author received no credit at all. Fifteen title pages hyphenated the name as Shake-speare with thirteen instances concentrated on just three works. Richard II saw this form in its second third fourth and fifth quartos between 1598 and 1615. Richard III used it across five editions from 1598 through 1622 while Henry IV Part One employed it four times from 1599 to 1613.
The unhyphenated spelling Shakespeare appears on twenty-two of the fifty-eight quartos including first editions of The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream both issued in 1600. Othello printed in 1622 also uses this form alongside Troilus and Cressida from 1609. King Lear's first quarto from 1608 spells the name Shakspeare while Love's Labour's Lost from 1598 features Shake-speare with a long s character. James S. Shapiro argues that typesetters struggled with the name causing frequent errors or hyphenation when parts could be read as separate words like shake and spear.
Philip Chetwinde published the second printing of the Third Folio in 1664 introducing a new section with additional plays. This add-on adopted the modernized spelling Shakespear on its title page while retaining the original front matter. John Downes and Nahum Tate both used this form during the Restoration Era following the publication shift. Nicholas Rowe became Shakespeare's first biographer and spelled the name Shakespear in his book Some Account of the Life &c. of Mr. William Shakespear released in 1709.
Alexander Pope followed suit in his edition of the Works of Shakespear published in 1725 while George Sewell produced The Works of Mr. William Shakespear. Lewis Theobald retained the final e in his edition Shakespeare Restored from 1726 rejecting attempts to sanitize the text. William Warburton continued using Shakespear throughout the 18th century though Samuel Johnson preferred the First Folio spelling. William Hazlitt wrote Characters of Shakespear's Plays and George Bernard Shaw insisted on this spelling for all his publications despite rational spelling advocates pushing back against it.
Edmond Malone declared a preference for the spelling Shakspere in his major sixteen-volume edition of complete works published in 1790. George Steevens also used this form after examining Shakespeare's will with Malone. They believed the final signature read Shakspere which matched the inscription on Shakespeare's tomb though Malone admitted the handwriting was difficult to read. Virtually every edition before 1840 adopted this spelling including German scholars Friedrich Schlegel and Ludwig Tieck.
Joseph Hunter published all known variations in Illustrations of the Life Studies and Writings of Shakespeare in 1845 listing idiosyncratic forms like Shagsper and Saxpere. He criticized Malone and Steevens for abolishing the e without reason suggesting two pronunciations existed between Warwickshire neighbors calling him Shaxper and London friends honoring him as Shakespeare. John Pinkerton revived Shakspere in Letters on Literature under the pen-name Robert Heron in 1785 giving it wide circulation. The Gentleman's Magazine hosted heated debates in 1787 and 1840 where Frederic Madden claimed new evidence proved the poet always wrote Shakspere.
Between 1863 and 1866 Trinity College at Cambridge University published a nine-volume Works of William Shakespeare edited by William George Clark John Glover and William Aldis Wright. These editors spelled the name Shakespeare establishing what became known as The Cambridge Shakespeare. A related Globe Edition issued in 1864 included the text without scholarly apparatus becoming so popular it remained in print for almost a century.
The authority of these editions backed by academic credentials caused Shakespeare to dominate publications from that point forward. Isaac D'Israeli had defended this spelling earlier arguing printed versions reflected authorial choice while Joseph Hunter stated it represented proper pronunciation evidenced by puns on shake and spear. Although other spellings continued appearing occasionally the ubiquity of the Cambridge and Globe texts ensured Shakespeare gained dominance retaining its position to this day despite occasional fringe theories using variant forms.
Delia Bacon published The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded in London in 1857 using the archaic form to distinguish between the Stratford man and a supposed hidden author. Advocates claimed different spellings indicated two men: an actor called Shaksper or Shakspere versus a real author like Francis Bacon or Edward de Vere named Shakespeare with hyphens. Some imagined three Shakespeares representing the author the actor and the Stratford frontman.
H.N. Gibson noted outlandish spellings sometimes chosen purely to ridicule the Stratford man making his name seem vulgar and rustic as seen in Baconian writings by Edwin Durning-Lawrence. Arguments about hyphenation suggesting pseudonyms failed when Robert Waldegrave repeatedly hyphenated his own name while failing to hyphenate undisputed pseudonyms like Martin Marprelate. Kathman argues real names were as likely to be hyphenated as pseudonyms proving no single spelling proves authorship identity regardless of how theorists used these variations to support their claims.
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Common questions
How did William Shakespeare sign his legal documents in the 1600s?
William Shakespeare signed legal documents with variations such as Willm Shakp on a deposition from the 11th of May 1612 and Wm Shakspe on a mortgage deed from the 11th of March 1613. His final will dated the 25th of March 1616 contains three signatures reading William Shakspere followed by another instance of William Shakspere and finally By me William Shakspeare.
What spellings appeared on quarto editions of plays before the First Folio collected in 1623?
Fifty-eight quarto editions of Shakespeare's plays appeared before the First Folio collected in 1623 with twenty-two using the unhyphenated spelling Shakespeare and fifteen title pages hyphenating the name as Shake-speare. Richard II saw this form in its second third fourth and fifth quartos between 1598 and 1615 while King Lear's first quarto from 1608 spells the name Shakspeare.
When did the spelling Shakespeare become dominant over other forms like Shakspere or Shakespear?
Between 1863 and 1866 Trinity College at Cambridge University published a nine-volume Works of William Shakespeare edited by William George Clark John Glover and William Aldis Wright which established what became known as The Cambridge Shakespeare. The authority of these editions backed by academic credentials caused Shakespeare to dominate publications from that point forward retaining its position to this day despite occasional fringe theories using variant forms.
Why do some scholars argue for the spelling Shakspere instead of Shakespeare?
Edmond Malone declared a preference for the spelling Shakspere in his major sixteen-volume edition of complete works published in 1790 after examining Shakespeare's will and believing the final signature read Shakspere which matched the inscription on Shakespeare's tomb. Delia Bacon published The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded in London in 1857 using the archaic form to distinguish between the Stratford man and a supposed hidden author.
How many distinct legal documents contain surviving autographs of William Shakespeare?
These six surviving autographs appear on four distinct legal documents from the last five years of his life with most using abbreviated forms like Willm or Wm which was standard practice for scribes of the Elizabethan era. A possibly genuine mark appears on William Lambarde's Archaionomia published in 1568 though it remains smudged and difficult to decipher as Shakspere.