Actors in the Role

Depictions of actors in the role of Richard III opened up another rich vein of interaction between the theatre and the printed book in the eighteenth century.

The complete works of Shakspere : revised from the original editions / with historical and analytical introductions to each play, also notes explanatory and critical, and a life of the poet by J.O. Halliwell and other eminent commentators.

Figure 1. The complete works of Shakspere. London and New York: John Tallis and Company, [1850]. Drew University Library.

David Garrick was a renowned actor and manager of Drury Lane Theatre during the period. Inexpensive engravings of his painted portrait as Richard III, a role he popularized, by William Hogarth circulated in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and were included in illustrated editions of Shakespeare’s play such as the 1850 volume published by John Tallis and Company on view in this exhibition (Figure 1). Most of the illustrations in this three-volume set are engravings of British and American Shakespearean actors from daguerreotypes, one of the earliest modes of photography. Illustrations for Richard III in the “Histories” volume include two engravings from paintings of David Garrick and Charles Kean and three from daguerreotypes depicting J. W. Wallack, Mr. Couldock, and Kate and Ellen Bateman. 

The complete works of Shakspere : revised from the original editions / with historical and analytical introductions to each play, also notes explanatory and critical, and a life of the poet by J.O. Halliwell and other eminent commentators.
The complete works of Shakspere : revised from the original editions / with historical and analytical introductions to each play, also notes explanatory and critical, and a life of the poet by J.O. Halliwell and other eminent commentators.
The complete works of Shakspere : revised from the original editions / with historical and analytical introductions to each play, also notes explanatory and critical, and a life of the poet by J.O. Halliwell and other eminent commentators.
Actors in the Role