This is the front cover of Volume IV of the Shakespeare edition produced by the the Victorian actor-manager Sir Henry Irving at the height of his fame. Irving edited the volumes with Frank. A. Marshall and they are wonderfully illustrated by Gordon Browne.
A succession of influential Shakespeare performances – ‘Hamlet’ in 1870, ‘Macbeth’ in 1875, ‘Othello’ in 1876 and ‘Richard III’ in 1877 – had established Irving as a major Shakespearean actor. In 1878 Irving entered into partnership with Ellen Terry at the Lyceum and began a highly significant period for English theatre. Irving’s performance as Shylock in ‘The Merchant of Venice’ in 1879 began a sea-change in ways of understanding representation of the character.
More on Irving’s edition of the plays next post but for now one of Browne’s wonderful illustrations.
The Solitary Reader 