1872 Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare Rev John Hunter Provenance Copy
Bibliographical Details
Title: Shakspeare's Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. With Explanatory and Illustrative Notes, Selected Criticisms on the Play, Etc.
Author: William Shakespeare (1564–1616).
Adapted for Schools and Private Study by: The Rev. John Hunter, M.A., one of the National Society's Examiners of Middle-Class Schools and formerly Vice-Principal of the Society's Training College, Battersea.
Illustrator: None.
Publisher: Longmans, Green, and Co.
Place of Publication: London.
Printer: Spottiswoode and Co., New-Street Square and Parliament Street, London.
Date: 1872.
Edition Statement: First published in this edition, 1872.
Historical & Bibliographical Context
Published in 1872 by Longmans, Green & Co., this annotated school edition of Romeo and Juliet was prepared by the Rev. John Hunter to support the study of Shakespeare in Victorian classrooms. It combines the complete text of the play with explanatory notes, selected criticism and an extensive introduction discussing the literary origins of the tragedy. Today, it offers both Shakespeare collectors and enthusiasts of Victorian education an attractive insight into nineteenth-century literary scholarship.
About the Author
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was England's greatest dramatist and poet. His plays and sonnets have profoundly influenced English literature and continue to be studied, performed and collected throughout the world.
About the Editor
The Rev. John Hunter, M.A., was an educationalist and National Society examiner who produced annotated Shakespeare editions to support the teaching of English literature in Victorian schools.
Binding & Exterior
Bound in the publisher's original brown blind stamped cloth over card, with decorative blind stamped borders, lettering and emblem to the front.
This is an evidently well-read Victorian school copy that remains complete and structurally intact. The binding shows honest age-related wear, including creasing to the spine, creasing to both boards, light staining, small marks, rubbing and fraying to the cloth at the extremities, together with a noticeable lean to the spine. Despite these signs of use, the binding retains its period character and continues to protect the text block well.
Interior Condition
The pages are lightly toned with scattered light foxing and occasional small marks throughout, entirely consistent with a well-used nineteenth-century school book. There are several small edge creases and a few tiny edge tears that do not affect the text.
The front free endpaper has been removed, leaving only remnants at the hinge (please see photographs). Contemporary ownership inscriptions appear on both the title page and printer's imprint page, while "The end" has been neatly written in ink on page 125. Several opening gatherings, including the title page, are fragile and partially detached at the inner margin, with a handful of light gutter cracks elsewhere. Nevertheless, all printed pages remain present, complete and legible, and the text block is substantially intact.
Physical Details
Pages: vii, 125pp, plus 2-page publisher's catalogue at the rear. The front free endpaper has been removed, with only small remnants remaining at the hinge (please see photographs). This does not affect the completeness of the text.
Dimensions: Approximately 17.6 × 10.8 × 0.9 cm.
Weight: Approximately 108 grams.
Provenance
One of the most appealing aspects of this volume is its documented Victorian ownership.
The title page bears the contemporary ownership inscription "Louisa Weightman", while the printer's imprint page is further inscribed "Louisa Weightman, Aubourn, Nov. 16th '72", placing the book in her possession during the very year of its publication.
Genealogical research identifies Louisa Weightman (born c.1855) as the daughter of John Weightman, a respected master miller and farmer of approximately forty acres at Aubourn, a small Lincolnshire village. Following her father's death in 1869, the family remained at the Mill House, where Louisa lived with her widowed mother, Esther, and her siblings. Census records later show her serving as housekeeper within the family household before marrying local farmer William Bell in 1884.
Tragedy struck again when William Bell died in 1901, leaving Louisa a widow in her mid-forties. Rather than relinquishing the family enterprise, she became head of the household and continued to manage the farm, appearing as a farmer in both the 1901 and 1911 censuses. Probate records show that when she died in 1935, she left effects valued at £5,623 18s. 3d., suggesting that she successfully maintained the family's agricultural interests for many years.
It is tempting to imagine this little Shakespeare volume in the hands of a teenage Louisa Weightman shortly after she inscribed it in November 1872, perhaps while studying at the family home in Aubourn. More than 150 years later, her contemporary inscriptions preserve a tangible connection with a named Victorian reader whose story can still be traced through surviving historical records, giving this volume a provenance that extends well beyond a simple ownership signature.
Rarity & Collector Notes
This particular copy is especially appealing because it retains its original binding and possesses a well-documented contemporary provenance. While the condition prevents it from being considered a high-grade collector's copy, the surviving ownership history offers an engaging glimpse into Victorian education and rural life in Lincolnshire.