Overview

Illustrations have been an important element of many of the most extensively read editions of Shakespeare's plays, from the frontispieces to Nicholas Rowe's 1709 edition to the multiple images placed within the text of Victorian editions. Through symbols the illustrations have explored language and character; by allusion to earlier paintings they have offered critical readings; and by gesture, setting and costume they have redesigned the plays within the visual vocabulary of their own times. In all these ways they offer important exchanges with contemporary social, aesthetic and critical concerns, and, despite being largely ignored by scholars, are central to the plays' reception. Highly illustrated, including many images not previously reproduced, the book allows the reader to share the experience of early readers of the plays. Building on the author's earlier work in Painting Shakespeare it offers a fresh address to the tradition of visual criticism and assimilation of Shakespeare's plays.

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9781107300903

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Reviews

'Stuart Sillars is a brilliant guide to the long history of illustrating Shakespeare on the page. He helps us see what Shakespeare's readers saw when they opened their editions across two centuries and found images as well as dialogue. Reading him makes us read anew the way they read. The Illustrated Shakespeare changes our understanding of the reception of Shakespeare startlingly and excitingly.' Peter Holland, University of Notre Dame, Indiana 'Sillars's analysis of these illustrative embodiments and the fables they disseminate draws out some wonderful moments of pictorial insight ... His great strength is as an acute and informed reader of the visual image in Shakespeare publication, a field he has made his own with two compendious books in as many years (the other book being Painting Shakespeare: The Artist as Critic, 1720-1820).' The Times Literary Supplement 'Stuart Sillars' magnificent volume has wisely selected the so far largely unchartered area of illustrated editions ... His admirable introduction shows exemplary critical discrimination and bibliographical competence as well as rare literary and artistic sensitivity. ... Throughout this vigorous and diversified development, Sillars acts as a reliable, admirably knowledgeable and illuminating guide, always paying special attention to the changes in book production, editorial fashions and the social stratification of readership.' Professor Dieter Mehl, Archiv '... beautifully and generously illustrated ...' Frederic Delord '... richly-illustrated volume ...' Cahiers Elisabethains '... Sillars's careful attention to the particularities of book design, publication, and promotion, his persuasive observations on the influence of competing media, and his nuanced understanding of the cultural work that these volumes have performed make this study an invaluable addition to the critical literature on the history of Shakespeare reception.' Nineteenth-Century Literature

'Stuart Sillars is a brilliant guide to the long history of illustrating Shakespeare on the page. He helps us see what Shakespeare's readers saw when they opened their editions across two centuries and found images as well as dialogue. Reading him makes us read anew the way they read. The Illustrated Shakespeare changes our understanding of the reception of Shakespeare startlingly and excitingly.' Peter Holland, University of Notre Dame, Indiana 'Sillars's analysis of these illustrative embodiments and the fables they disseminate draws out some wonderful moments of pictorial insight … His great strength is as an acute and informed reader of the visual image in Shakespeare publication, a field he has made his own with two compendious books in as many years (the other book being Painting Shakespeare: The Artist as Critic, 1720–1820).' The Times Literary Supplement 'Stuart Sillars' magnificent volume has wisely selected the so far largely unchartered area of illustrated editions … His admirable introduction shows exemplary critical discrimination and bibliographical competence as well as rare literary and artistic sensitivity. … Throughout this vigorous and diversified development, Sillars acts as a reliable, admirably knowledgeable and illuminating guide, always paying special attention to the changes in book production, editorial fashions and the social stratification of readership.' Professor Dieter Mehl, Archiv '… beautifully and generously illustrated …' Frédéric Delord '… richly-illustrated volume …' Cahiers Élisabéthains '… Sillars's careful attention to the particularities of book design, publication, and promotion, his persuasive observations on the influence of competing media, and his nuanced understanding of the cultural work that these volumes have performed make this study an invaluable addition to the critical literature on the history of Shakespeare reception.' Nineteenth-Century Literature

'Stuart Sillars is a brilliant guide to the long history of illustrating Shakespeare on the page. He helps us see what Shakespeare's readers saw when they opened their editions across two centuries and found images as well as dialogue. Reading him makes us read anew the way they read. The Illustrated Shakespeare changes our understanding of the reception of Shakespeare startlingly and excitingly.' Peter Holland, University of Notre Dame, Indiana 'Sillars's analysis of these illustrative embodiments and the fables they disseminate draws out some wonderful moments of pictorial insight ... His great strength is as an acute and informed reader of the visual image in Shakespeare publication, a field he has made his own with two compendious books in as many years (the other book being Painting Shakespeare: The Artist as Critic, 1720-1820).' Times Literary Supplement 'Stuart Sillars' magnificent volume has wisely selected the so far largely unchartered area of illustrated editions ... His admirable introduction shows exemplary critical discrimination and bibliographical competence as well as rare literary and artistic sensitivity. ... Throughout this vigorous and diversified development, Sillars acts as a reliable, admirably knowledgeable and illuminating guide, always paying special attention to the changes in book production, editorial fashions and the social stratification of readership.' Professor Dieter Mehl, Archiv '... beautifully and generously illustrated ...' Frederic Delord '... richly-illustrated volume ...' Cahiers Elisabethains '... Sillars's careful attention to the particularities of book design, publication, and promotion, his persuasive observations on the influence of competing media, and his nuanced understanding of the cultural work that these volumes have performed make this study an invaluable addition to the critical literature on the history of Shakespeare reception.' Nineteenth-Century Literature

Author Information

Stuart Sillars is Professor of English at the University of Bergen, Norway.

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