William Shakespeare Works, ed. William Warburton, London, 1747
This volume is part of a set of eight volumes, seven of which were formerly owned by Dr Samuel Johnson. Volume six of this set belonged to Styan Thirlby, who intended to produce an edition of Shakespeare; it seems likely that Johnson used this volume to make up his own set which had become incomplete.
In the preparation of his Dictionary Johnson drew on Shakespeare’s works for ‘the diction of the common life’. Most of his notes are pencil directions indicating to an amanuensis what he wished to have copied out on slips, so as to furnish him with passages to illustrate the meaning of words included in the Dictionary. There are a few more lengthy notes like the one shown here at the end of Richard III, in which Johnson comments about material he will introduce into, or leave out of, his own edition of Shakespeare, which was published in 1765.
Between 1784, when Johnson died, and 1862, when Powell bought the volumes in London for 15 guineas, these books had a number of owners. George Steevens (1736-1800) owned them for a time; he published, at Johnson’s suggestion, his own edition of Shakespeare in 1773 but is remembered almost as much for his quarrels with other scholars as for his own contributions to learning. Richard Heber (1773-1833) owned the books for some time. He was one of the greatest book collectors of all time, spending over £100,000 on his library.
