Edward Capell

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Edward Capell (born June 11, 1713; died February 24, 1781) was an English Shakespeare scholar.

life and work

Capell was born at Troston Hall in Suffolk . On the recommendation of Charles FitzRoy , he was appointed inspector of the British Theater Censorship in 1737 at a salary of £ 200 a year . In 1745 he became chamberlain at the court of King George II .

In 1760 he published the collection Prolusions, or, Select Pieces of Ancient Poetry . It contained the drama Edward III , which he counted among Shakespeare's apocrypha. His criticism of the Shakespeare edition by Sir Thomas Hanmer led him to start his own complete edition on the basis of the early prints. He collected and compared the surviving quarto and folio versions and presented his ten-volume edition in 1768, which is praised by today's scholars as a "remarkably clean text". Its introduction was reprinted as an appendix in later editions by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens . In 1774 he published the first part of a commentary, which was published in 1783, two years after his death by John Churton Collins under the title Notes and Various Readings of Shakespeare . It contains numerous references to the sources Shakespeare used. Collins later claimed that Steevens bribed workers in printing Capell's edition, stealing Capell's notes for his own edition. In addition to the complete edition, in 1758 Capell and David Garrick arranged a separate edition of Antonius and Cleopatra , which was set up for performances.

Capell's edition was reprinted six times by 1813. He died in the Inner Temple on February 24, 1781 .

Selected Works

  • Prolusions, or, Select Pieces of Ancient Poetry. 1760.
  • Mr. William Shakespeare. His Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. 10 vol. London 1767-68.
  • Notes and Various Readings. (Vol. I 1744; Vol. I-III 1779-1783).
  • School of Shakespare. (Contained in: "Notes ...")

Web links

Note

  • This article contains text from works that are no longer protected by copyright.
  • Beesly, Augustus Henry (1887). "Capell, Edward". In Stephen, Leslie. Dictionary of National Biography 9. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 19-20.
  • Hugh Chisholm (Ed.), 1911, "Capell, Edward". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition). Cambridge University Press

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Beesly, 1887.
  2. ↑ Chisholm; 1911.
  3. ^ Dobson Oxford Companion. Article Capell, Edward by Marcus Walsh. P. 66.
  4. ↑ Chisholm; 1911.
  5. ↑ Chisholm; 1911.
  6. ↑ Chisholm; 1911.
personal data
SURNAME Capell, Edward
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English Shakespeare scholar
DATE OF BIRTH June 11, 1713
DATE OF DEATH February 24, 1781