A CATALOGUE

OF THE EARLY EDITIONS OF

Shakespeare's Plays,

AND OF THE

COMMENTARIES AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS

ILLUSTRATIVE OF HIS WORKS.

BY

JAMES ORCHARD HALLIWELL, Esq., F. R. S., F. S. A.,

&c. &c. &c.

LONDON:

JOHN RUSSELL SMITH,

4, OLD COMPTON STREET, SOHO SQUARE.

M DCCCXLI.

PREFACE.

THIS little publication has been undertaken chiefly with a view of supplying the critic and student with the means of ascertaining at once what sources are available on any particular points of inquiry in Shakesperian criticism, and affording the latter a manual of bibliographical information which is indispensable to the attainment of any correct knowledge in that department of literature.

Something of the same kind was undertaken by Mr. Wilson, and published in 1827; but, besides being very concise in the list of the early editions of the plays, it offers us no correct accounts of the different impressions. Moreover, the scarcity of this last mentioned work, and the rapid progress which this class of literature has made since its publication, are sufficient reasons for the present undertaking.