![[SHAKESPEARE, William (1564-1616)]. Commonplace book, in a number of hands, [Yorkshire, late 16th - early 17th Century], containing TWO QUOTATIONS FROM OTHELLO, together with passages and translations from classical texts, notes on classical and mythological figures, remedies, household hints and practical notes, theological notes and arguments, poems, epigrams and sententiae, legal forms, rentals for land around Kirby Knowle, and copies of letters and documents, 207 leaves, 4to, (erratically numbered 1- 205 in a modern hand, in pencil), some blanks, a few scraps of paper loosely inserted (occasional soiling, some wear to outer margins), original vellum wrappers from a twelfth-century theological manuscript (worn and soiled; some gatherings working loose from stitching), modern fitted case. Provenance. Originating with the Danby family of Kirby Knowle, North Yorkshire (from signatures and local references).](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/1999/CKS/1999_CKS_06222_0237_000(122310).jpg?w=1)
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[SHAKESPEARE, William (1564-1616)]. Commonplace book, in a number of hands, [Yorkshire, late 16th - early 17th Century], containing TWO QUOTATIONS FROM OTHELLO, together with passages and translations from classical texts, notes on classical and mythological figures, remedies, household hints and practical notes, theological notes and arguments, poems, epigrams and sententiae, legal forms, rentals for land around Kirby Knowle, and copies of letters and documents, 207 leaves, 4to, (erratically numbered 1- 205 in a modern hand, in pencil), some blanks, a few scraps of paper loosely inserted (occasional soiling, some wear to outer margins), original vellum wrappers from a twelfth-century theological manuscript (worn and soiled; some gatherings working loose from stitching), modern fitted case. Provenance. Originating with the Danby family of Kirby Knowle, North Yorkshire (from signatures and local references).
EARLY MANUSCRIPTS OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS ARE EXTREMELY RARE. The Othello quotations are to be found on f.80 (unnumbered: the leaves on either side are inconsistently numbered 79 and 82), entitled 'Othello the Moore of Venice'. The first consists of 18 lines from Iago's speech to Roderigo, Act I scene i, ll.41-58, beginning 'O sir content yow, I follow him to serve my turne upo[n] him', the second of eight lines from the Duke's speech to Brabantio consoling him on the death of Desdemona, 'When Remedyes arr past, the griefes arr ended'. The text is from the Quarto of 1622. Circumstantial evidence indicates that the quotation was transcribed in the few years after the publication of the Quarto: on the facing page is a memorandum of an indenture dated 17 James I [1620]; on f.88v, in the same hand as the Othello quotations, are calculations relating to the date of Easter, in which reference is made to 'the yeare 1641 aboute 15 years hence'.
The Othello hand is by no means the preponderant hand in the commonplace book (it is not that, for example, of Henry Danby, whose signature and hand appear most frequently). It is only certainly present in seven other places in the manuscript: (i) f.74 'The differences betwixt the Roman Catholiques & the Protestants', a ten-point list; (ii) f.75 a didactic poem beginning 'If from the North the Winde begins to blowe', in eleven four-line stanzas, ascribed to Edward Pond; (iii) f.88v notes on the dominical letter and the golden number, for calculating the dates of Easter; (iv) f.89 'A Table of the difference of Gould'; (v) f.90v copy letter to Lord Scrope, Lord President of the North, giving evidence in a suit between Francis Burgh of Upsall [North Yorkshire, a few miles from Kirby Knowle] and Rowland Webster 'or. neighbor'; (vi) f.91v 'The differences betwixt the Roman Catholiques & the Protestants', two sentences as in (i); (vii) 92v-99v a copy at length of the objections of John Feckenham, last Abbot of Westminster, to a sermon by John Gough preached at the Tower of London on 15 January 1570, together with his prefatory letter to the Lieutenant of the Tower. The overwhelmingly religious and possibly recusant preoccupations of these passages are naturally of interest in interpreting the context of the Othello quotation.
There are references to several families of the name of Danby in the early visitations of Yorkshire. The most prominent member of the family of Danby of Danby was Sir Robert Danby, chief justice of the Common Pleas (1461-71), who purchased the estate of Thorpe Perrow near Bedale, approximately fifteen miles from Kirby Knowle. Sir Robert Danby's grandson Sir Christopher Danby married in 1493 Marjorie Scrope, daughter of Thomas, 5th Baron Scrope of Masham, and through this marriage became first Lord of Mashamshire. Although their Catholic sympathies were known they were never fined for recusancy. Their descendant, Christopher Danby (1582-1624), a contemporary of some of the Danbys of this commonplace book, was, together with his mother Elizabeth (daughter of Thomas Wentworth of Wentworth Woodhouse) and his wife Frances, daughter of Edward Parker, Lord Morley and Monteagle, fined for recusancy. Danby himself was reported by his steward for harbouring seminary priests.
Early manuscripts of Shakespeare are an important source for the reception of his work, and the context in which it was seen. The present manuscript is listed in Peter Beale, Index of English Literary Manuscripts 1450-1625 as ShW 74; it is one of only two Shakespeare manuscripts in the Index identified as being in private hands. See also Sotheby's, 29 October 1975, lot 150, and Pickering and Chatto, catalogue 676, lot 106.
EARLY MANUSCRIPTS OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS ARE EXTREMELY RARE. The Othello quotations are to be found on f.80 (unnumbered: the leaves on either side are inconsistently numbered 79 and 82), entitled 'Othello the Moore of Venice'. The first consists of 18 lines from Iago's speech to Roderigo, Act I scene i, ll.41-58, beginning 'O sir content yow, I follow him to serve my turne upo[n] him', the second of eight lines from the Duke's speech to Brabantio consoling him on the death of Desdemona, 'When Remedyes arr past, the griefes arr ended'. The text is from the Quarto of 1622. Circumstantial evidence indicates that the quotation was transcribed in the few years after the publication of the Quarto: on the facing page is a memorandum of an indenture dated 17 James I [1620]; on f.88v, in the same hand as the Othello quotations, are calculations relating to the date of Easter, in which reference is made to 'the yeare 1641 aboute 15 years hence'.
The Othello hand is by no means the preponderant hand in the commonplace book (it is not that, for example, of Henry Danby, whose signature and hand appear most frequently). It is only certainly present in seven other places in the manuscript: (i) f.74 'The differences betwixt the Roman Catholiques & the Protestants', a ten-point list; (ii) f.75 a didactic poem beginning 'If from the North the Winde begins to blowe', in eleven four-line stanzas, ascribed to Edward Pond; (iii) f.88v notes on the dominical letter and the golden number, for calculating the dates of Easter; (iv) f.89 'A Table of the difference of Gould'; (v) f.90v copy letter to Lord Scrope, Lord President of the North, giving evidence in a suit between Francis Burgh of Upsall [North Yorkshire, a few miles from Kirby Knowle] and Rowland Webster 'o
There are references to several families of the name of Danby in the early visitations of Yorkshire. The most prominent member of the family of Danby of Danby was Sir Robert Danby, chief justice of the Common Pleas (1461-71), who purchased the estate of Thorpe Perrow near Bedale, approximately fifteen miles from Kirby Knowle. Sir Robert Danby's grandson Sir Christopher Danby married in 1493 Marjorie Scrope, daughter of Thomas, 5th Baron Scrope of Masham, and through this marriage became first Lord of Mashamshire. Although their Catholic sympathies were known they were never fined for recusancy. Their descendant, Christopher Danby (1582-1624), a contemporary of some of the Danbys of this commonplace book, was, together with his mother Elizabeth (daughter of Thomas Wentworth of Wentworth Woodhouse) and his wife Frances, daughter of Edward Parker, Lord Morley and Monteagle, fined for recusancy. Danby himself was reported by his steward for harbouring seminary priests.
Early manuscripts of Shakespeare are an important source for the reception of his work, and the context in which it was seen. The present manuscript is listed in Peter Beale, Index of English Literary Manuscripts 1450-1625 as ShW 74; it is one of only two Shakespeare manuscripts in the Index identified as being in private hands. See also Sotheby's, 29 October 1975, lot 150, and Pickering and Chatto, catalogue 676, lot 106.