Item 42 - Letter from William A. Jackson to W. W. Greg

1 single sheet

The Houghton Library, Harvard University.—Discusses extant copies of the 1608 quarto of King Lear.

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Transcript

Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, The Houghton Library.
August 25, 1943

Dr. W. W. Greg
Standlands
Petworth, Sussex

Dear Dr. Greg:

I am afraid I have been guilty of a bit of carelessness. Since Pforzheimer didn't have the 1608 King Lear, I didn't check my census very carefully, but I can account for the figure as follows:

Besides the copies listed in the Short Title Catalogue, I had notes that there were three copies in the British Museum. They are recorded in the 1880 catalogue as C.34.k.19; C.12.g.27; and C.34.k.20. [Added in the margin by Greg: 'they are [1619]'.] The STC credited Yale with a copy, which apparently they don't have. [Ticked by Greg.] I had a note that the Folger Library had two copies, one a large fragment. My description of the Folger copies is as follows:

1608 Pide Bull
Gott—not seen! Butter ed. [Added by Greg: '[1619]'.]
Fragment—Halliwell rarities 750. C1–L2. 173 x 123. [Ticked by Greg.]
Green mor. for Halliwell, ca. 1880.
(This is a later note)—Quaritch tp. in fac. bt. 1936. 7 x 5 inches. [Ticked by Greg.]

I also had noted that Quartich† in their Catalogue 436 had a copy, which is now in the Folger and presumably makes a third copy, unless the Gott edition is not there or is a 1619 edition. [Added by Greg in the margin: 'as in Bart.']

The difficulty is that you must remember that my census was finished in 1936 and in type in 1937, although not published until 1942. Where I would differ from the Bartlett and Pollard Census would be with regard to the Gott copy in the Folger and the third British Museum copy, which of course may be sold and might conceivably be one of the copies listed in the Census, or the 1619 ed., as well as the Yale copy.

With kindest regards,

Sincerely yours,
Wm. A. Jackson

P.S. Of all the known copies, I suppose, in point of condition, the Harvard copy is the finest.

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Typed, except the signature, the postscript, and a number of additions. The square brackets in Greg's additions are in the original.

Formerly inserted in Greg's copy of The Variants in the First Quarto of 'King Lear' (1940) (V. 10. 64).

This description was created by A. C. Green in 2020.