Lewis Theobald and the editing of Shakespeare

Since his death in 1744, Theobald's tarnished reputation as a scholar and critic has been determined chiefly by Pope's Dunciad Variorum (1729) and by Johnson's Preface to Shakespeare (1765). Placing Pope and Johnson's hostile views in their social and intellectual context, Seary reassesses Theobald's aims and achievements from the perspective of twentieth-century textual interpretation, examining closely his concerns with Elizabethan philology, palaeography, and bibliography, and his critical understanding of Shakespeare. -- Publisher's description.