author
Mr. (Lewis) Theobald
1688–1744
A sharp, combative man of letters, this early Shakespeare editor is remembered both for improving the text of the plays and for becoming a target in Alexander Pope’s literary feud. His work helped push Shakespeare editing toward the careful, scholarly method readers now take for granted.
1 Audiobook
Preface to the Works of Shakespeare (1734)
by Mr. (Lewis) Theobald
About the author
Baptized on April 2, 1688, and dying on September 18, 1744, Lewis Theobald was an English writer, playwright, translator, and textual editor. He is best known today for his work on Shakespeare, where he stood out for treating the plays with unusual seriousness and close attention to detail.
Theobald’s reputation rests especially on Shakespeare Restored (1726), a book that challenged mistakes in Alexander Pope’s edition of Shakespeare, and on his own edition of Shakespeare published in 1733. Later critics have often credited him as an important early editor who helped move Shakespeare scholarship toward more careful and reliable texts.
He also became famous in another way: Pope mocked him in The Dunciad, which helped keep his name alive in literary history. That mix of solid scholarship and public literary quarrel makes him a memorable figure from the world of 18th-century English letters.