| Description | This is a collection formed by Mr. H.R. Forrest, of Manchester who was one of the most avid collectors of Shakespeare material and filled 76 scrapbooks between 1830 and 1886. The entire collection was acquired by Birmingham Libraries in 1906. Among the many treasures they contain are illustrations by renowned artists such as Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) and rare portraits of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. T
The volume on Othello is particularly useful source of text and images about the first black actor to perfume the role of Othello - Ira Aldridge.
The collection was descrined in Walford's "Antiquarian" 1886.
"He took Kenny Meadows', Charles Knight's, Staunton's, and Cassell's Illustrated Editions of Shakspeare, and added to these all known illustrations by Boydell, Fuseli, Howard, Smirke, Chodowicki, Retzsch, and Ruhl; every other Illustration that he could procure - historical, descriptive and artistic; portraits of all the historical personages of the plays; portraits of actors, English and foreign, who ever performed in the pieces.
Everything in the way of scenic representation of the plays and therefore all the customs and costumes of the stage giving a history of stage costumes and stage performances of the plays; also the historical portraits, collected from Sir S. Meyrick's works on ancient armour, from Boutell's Monumental Brasses, and from copies of old illuminations, so that as far as possible the actual time of each piece, whether its scenes were laid in England, Italy, Germany, Greece or Denmark, is before the examiner of this copy of Shakspeare.
Next come the erudite and illustrious Annotators and Translators of the text of Shakespeare, whose Portraits he added. Then he collected from the caricatures, squibs and periodicals, whatever had any reference to Shakspeare: he added maps of cities, old architecture, views of towns and castles and theatres, until the copy of his Shakspeare formed forty-five volumes in quarto, with more than 10,000 [now (1886) nearly 18000] illustrations - a marvellous work of never-ceasing perseverance.
It would be difficult to surpass the diligent research by which this one author has been illustrated, and there can be no question that the Forrest Copy of Shakspeare' is unique as a Collection of Illustrations to Shakespeare's Plays."
The Collection has been mounted and bound, the four copies of each play preceding the miscellaneous Illustrations. Then follow illustrations of characters, portraits of Actors, Theatre play bills, Topographical illustrations, etc. Each volume has been indexed and manuscript title pages have been provided on which are represented scenes from the plays, etc.
For the particulars of each volume see the individual item entries |