Figure 293
Bastard Title-page of Hanmer’s Shakespeare: University Press, Oxford
From a copy in Harvard College Library, Google Books (scan)
1743–1744
Sir Thomas Hanmer’s edition of Shakespeare was the first in which much pains were taken to make a handsome piece of printing. Hanmer, Speaker of the House of Commons, a friend of Bishop Berkeley, and a man of considerable literary achievement, brought out he Works in a six volume edition in 1744, though his name did not appear in it. It was printed “at the Theatre at Oxford,” and was “adorned with sculptures designed and executed by the best hands.”