The life of William Shakespeare. Including many particulars respecting the poet and his family never before published. By James Orchard Halliwell, Esq. F.R.S. Hon. M.R.I.A., Hon. M.R.S.L., F.S.A., etc.

8vo. pp. xvi, 336. Original cloth. Includes illustrations, plans, and facsimile. Added title page with vignette (Shakespeare's portrait). Printed prospectus laid in.

This work by James Orchard Halliwell (1820-1889) discusses the forged additions to the Dulwich Joan Alleyn letter, the only physical forgery by John Payne Collier unmasked by Halliwell at that point.

There are two more copies of the present work in this collection, which are retained by Arthur and Janet Freeman, both in original cloth as well. The first is inscribed to ‘Miss Halliwell, from her affectionate brother, The Author, 18 Dec. 1847’, with a later bookplate of Halliwell’s nephew, E.E. Baker; two letters to Baker concerning Halliwell’s publications are laid in. The second is inscribed to Collier ‘with the author’s kind regards’ and has a few annotations by Collier, in particular on p. 225, where Halliwell discusses the Ellesmere papers.

See A. & J. Freeman, John Payne Collier. Scholarship and Forgery in the Nineteenth Century. New Haven, 2004, I, pp. 536-539.

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