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ChapterI
SHAKESPEAREEARLYEUROPEANRECEPTION
(1623-1725)
101BenJonson–thefatherofShakespearecriticism
In1623,sevenyearsafterShakespeare’sdeath,asplendidvolumeofhisplays
collectedwithgreatendeavoursbyhiscompanionsintheKing’sMen,John
Heminges(1556-1630)andHenryCondell(-1627)waspublished.Eighteen
ofthethirty-sixplaysinthisgreatvolume,includingsuchmasterpiecesas
JuliusCaesar,Macbeth,AntonyandCleopatra,andTheTempest,hadnotappearedin
printbefore.WithouttheaforementionedFirstFolio,theymighthavevanish-
edforever.Additionally,HemingesandCondellstrovetopresenttheplaysto
thereadersintheshapeShakespearehad‘conceivedthem’,aspreviouslythey
hadbeen‘maim’danddeform’dbythefraudsandstealthsofinjuriousim-
postors’([1623]1994:xlv).Thefirsteditors,intheirdedicatoryletterto
EarlofPembrokeandEarlofMontgomery,claimedthatthewholeundertaking
hadbeenlaunched:
withoutambitioneitherofself-profitorfame,onlytokeepthememoryofso
worthyafriendandfellowaliveaswasourShakespeare([1623]1994:xliv).
Intheprefaceaddressed‘TotheGreatVarietyofReaders’,theyfurtherex-
plainedthatShakespearetrulydeservedthecommendationofposterity:
ashewasahappyimitatorofnature,wasamostgentleexpresserofit.Hismind
andhandwenttogether;andwhathethought,heutteredwiththateasinessthat
wehavescarcereceivedfromhimablotinhispapers([1623]1994:xlv).
WiththeFirstFolio,HemingesandCondellnotonlysavedthedrama-
tist’splaysforposteritybutalsoprovidedtheircontemporarieswiththefirst
