MODERN CHARACTERS FROM SHAKESPEAR. Alphabetically arranged. London: printed for E. Johnson, no. 4, Ludgate-hill; and sold by Mr. Crutwell, Bath; Mr. Cadell, Bristol; Mr. Jackson, Oxford; and may be had of all booksellers in Town and Country. 1778. [with:] MODERN CHARACTERS FOR 1778: by Shakespeare. Part II. [SHAKESPEARE.] Drama

Two works in one volume, 8vo in fours and 12mo in sixes, pp. iv, 88; [ii], iv, 88; second part apparently lacking half title; in contemporary mottled sheep, rather worn (small defects to lower cover), but sound; blank free endpaper coming loose. Probably the first editions of both parts, although it seems from the imprints that the two did not come from the same publishing stable, so they would not have been issued together, and almost certainly did not have authorship in common. Various compilers have been suggested, including Sir Henry Bate Dudley, Dr Cutts Barton and Lady Craven. The idea was to apply passages from Shakespeare to contemporaries who were prominent in politics, society or the arts, their names being lightly veiled with the usual dashes. Boswell mentions these publications in the Life of Johnson, and provides a clue about the way in which they came about: 'This season there was a whimsical fashion in the newspapers of applying Shakspeare's words to describe living persons well known in the world' (III p. 255) so it seems very probable that these were first published in newspapers (perhaps authored by a single person), and then once the fashion took hold, the same idea was imitated by others there could be no copyright in the idea, of course. On 9 April 1778, Boswell records Johnson as being satisfied that he too was included, characterised by a passage in As You Like It: 'You must borrow me Gargantua's mouth, 'Tis a word too great for any mouth of this age's size' (part I p. 47). Johnson was not forgotten in the second part, too: on p. 10 a passage from Coriolanus is attached to his name (as 'Dr. Jo---son'). He is not the only person one recognises here, even after almost 250 years: 'Mrs Th le' is surely Hester Thrale (II p. 18), and 'Sir J H kins' (II 20) must be Sir John Hawkins. Among many others, David Garrick, Hannah More, Elizabeth Montague, Edmund Burke, R.B. Sheridan, Sir Joshua Reynolds and Benjamin Franklin all make an appearance. The bibliography of these publications seems exceedingly complex. ESTC lists three editions of the first part: this seems to be N5156, 8vo in fours, with 88pp; there is another very similar one with 90pp (T64119), and a 'new edition' of the same year, with 88pp also (T64120). The second part, published by Daniel Browne, is recorded in six different editions, all in 12mo and some with chaotic pagination. The present copy looks like T491709, of which just one copy is recorded, at the NYPL. Provenance. 19th century armorial bookplate of J.H. Hodgetts Foley (1797-1861), who was a whig MP for most of 1822-61.