SHAKSPER 2000: Re: Shakespeare's Fight with the Pirates

From: Hardy M. Cook (editor@ws.bowiestate.edu)
Date: 01/10/00 

The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 11.0044  Monday, 10 January 2000.

From:           Steven Marx <smarx@calpoly.edu>
Date:           Friday, 07 Jan 2000 07:04:25 -0800
Subject:        Re: Shakespeare's Fight with the Pirates

Dear Folks,

The lottery was won by #7, David Kathman.

Steven Marx

*************
1. [from a sister university]
Greetings from the other Cal Poly.

I know that book, but I've never actually read it.  I really would like
to have it, as 1) my work is on theater history and the history of
theater history 2) I'm revising a chapter of my dissertation which
involves the First Folio and printing and 3) I'm a brand new professor
and have got hardly any reference books of my own yet.

Is that convincing?

Best of luck to you starting the new quarter--

2. [from an acquaintance who lives in an adjoining small town]
Steve, if you send that book to Leons, I'd probably just end up buying
it.

3. [from San Francisco Bay Area]
Steven,

Re: Pollard's  Shakespeare's Fight with the Pirates, I don't know if I
am deserving, but I would like the volume if there a more compelling
claimant does not come forward.

I have been studying the case for and against New Bibliography for the
past several
months.  I have read Hoppe, Alexander, Coe, essays by Greg, Maguire,
reviews of Maguire,
and a couple answering articles, including one in the most recent
Shakespeare Quarterly. I have not consulted three important books on
this issue, two by Greg, and Pollard's, because I have been unable to
find them.

I don't know if I shall try to publish, I don't have an adequate grasp
of the data yet, but I have begun three lists - and I do mean begun.
This idea came recently, so I need to read everything again, at least
one more time, possibly more.

One, reasons asserting New Bib that have NOT been adequately answered
(not many, but they are quite real).

Two, good reasons for rejecting New Bib, a somewhat longer list.

Three, arguments against it, that can equally be used as arguments for
it, and so prove nothing, even though Maguire tends to take them as
evidence against.

Pollard's is one of the key texts in this debate, so I'll certainly
study it if I can ever find a copy.

There is my pitch.   I'd love the book, but if someone has a better
reason for having it, I sincerely hope you give the book to them.
Whoever can make the greatest contribution should have it.

As a regular used bookstore trader - we are blessed with many in the
area, one benifet of a university town - I am impressed at your
willingness to give it away.  If you give the book to me I hope you will
at least let me pay for the postage.

all the best,

4. [from Maryland]
Dear Steven Marx,

From a humble amateur Shakespeare scholar.  I have been studying
Shakespeare independently for many years (like 30), so have no academic
standing in this, but I have been reading the Pollard works, getting
them via inter-library loan. I would be willing to pay you for this
volume. Whether it is a deserving home is hard to say, but it would be a
loving home. For a fair market price, you might place it in the
Amazon.com auctions with a description of its condition.

I searched Bibliofind.com just now and received 2 entries:

POLLARD, Alfred W.: SHAKESPEARE'S FIGHT WITH THE PIRATES and the
problems of the transmission of his text. ; Cambridge. University Press.
1937. pp.  xxviii, 110. Small 8vo. Quarter cloth, paper spine label.
Spine Faded. 2nd edition, revised with an Introduction.   Offered for
sale by Alex Alec-Smith Books at £16.00

and

Pollard, Alfred W: Shakespeare's fight with the pirates and the problems
of the transmission of his text. ; New York,Haskell House,1974., 1974,
HARDCOVER, USED, xxviii, 110 p.20 cm., V-DRAMA, 73-020426 //r85
(UR#:15-0838317545-0) Offered for sale by Powells Books at US $50.00

Note the different editions stated. Sounds like yours is the same
edition as the first offering above.

My experience with Powells Books (second offering above) has been that
they offer low-ball prices but their books are in worse condition than
described, so your book may be worth a bit more than $50, being an
earlier edition.

Please let me know if you decide to place it in Amazon's auctions or if
you dispose of it otherwise.  I understand if you prefer to donate it to
a college library or to a full-time professional scholar in the field.
Even donating it, however, you might appreciate the information on price
above for tax deduction purposes.

Sincerely,

5. [from Canada]
I saw your posting to the listserve and the book peaked my interest.  I
am a graduate student taking a course in Shakespeare and his rivals this
term.  Along with the playhouse rivalry, we are looking at the problems
of printing, transmission, and the scurrilous coping of Shakespeare (and
Elizabethan) texts.  I'm sure there are people who want the book for
other reasons, but I think it would be a valuable asset to my course.

Moreover, my Ph.D. thesis is in the realm of cultural studies and one of
the facets is to look at how the plays participated in their culture,
specifically the ramifications they had for females in early modern
culture.  It sounds like the book would help with the study of texts and
their transmission in the period.

Thanks for your time
Respectfully,

6.  Steven, if you can find no deserving home I'll take it for no other
reason than that I collect any and all reference books about
Shakespeare.  I'll even pay the postage.  If I remember correctly this
book is about "bad" quartos and how they came into being.

7. I would be very interested in this book, which deals with textual
issues that affect my research.  This book was one of the most popular
statements of the influential theory of "bad" quartos, which used to be
taken as virtually given but which is now very controversial.  I have
Laurie Maguire's book Shakespearean Suspect Texts, which critically
examines the bad quarto theory, and I'm the assistant editor of the New
Variorum edition of Shakespeare's poems, which forces me to be aware of
textual issues.  This book would be a great addition to my library.

8. [from Brisbane]
Dear Steven,
I
would love to buy this book off you.  I am a PhD student who is
currently involved in an investigation of twentieth century editorial
practices in early modern English drama.  Naturally the triumvirate of
Pollard, Greg, and McKerrow feature largely in my work as they shaped
the first half of the century's editorial practices and are still
relevant today.  Please do not drop it in a second hand bookstore
recycle bin.
___________

Whom would you pick?

I ended up numbering eight slips of paper, throwing them in the air, and
blindly picking one.

Thanks for your notes.

Steven Marx


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