Cassell’s Illustrated Shakespeare : A Chronology of Editions and the Marginalisation of Mary Cowden Clarke’s Editorship

This essay examines the nature, production, and reception of Cassell’s Illustrated Shakespeare (1864–mpa#ndash;1869), a successful Victorian edition of Shakespeare’s works edited by Charles and Mary Cowden Clarke. First published in 1864 as part of the commemorative initiatives surrounding the Shakespeare Tercentenary, the edition appeared in multiple printings until the late nineteenth century, yet its bibliographical history remains poorly documented owing to the publisher’s consistent omission of publication dates. This has generated considerable confusion among scholars and antiquarians. The study reconstructs the edition’s complex publishing history and situates it within its broader cultural, social, political, and economic contexts. After establishing the sequence and approximate dates of the various editions, the essay turns to their critical reception, with particular attention to how contemporary reviewers shaped the reputation of Cowden Clarke as a female editor.