GRIFFITH, Elizabeth ([?]1727-93). The Morality of Shakespeare's Drama Illustrated, London, 1775, 8vo, engraved portrait frontispiece of Shakespeare, contemporary calf (worn). FIRST EDITION. With another related work in 2 vols. (3)

GRIFFITH, Elizabeth ([?]1727-93).  The Morality of Shakespeare's Drama Illustrated. London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1775. 8vo (214 x 125mm). Engraved portrait frontispiece of Shakespeare, woodcut typographical ornament on title, printed dedication to David Garrick, one-page of errata on the verso of the last page of the preface (portrait almost detached, some very light spotting and staining). Contemporary calf, spine gilt (worn, head of spine torn, some erosion to foot of spine, lacking lettering-piece, rubbed). Provenance: Robert Prescott Esq. (old armorial bookplate). FIRST EDITION of this pioneering work of Shakespearean criticism - in part a rebuttal of Voltaire's "single discordant voice" (see the author's Preface) - and, arguably, the first to establish Shakespeare's status as "National Poet." Of particular interest are the author's comments on "King Lear", comparing Shakespeare's original tragedy and Nahum Tate's (now infamous) re-working of it in 1681 which remained the preferred version among audiences and critics even into the first half of the 19th-century. Griffith's printed introduction to the play, on p.351 (preserving her original eccentric punctuation), states: "It may be necessary to many Readers to premise, that the Piece here under consideration, is the Play as originally written by Shakespeare, lest the bearing it in mind as altered by Tate, and generally acted so, might occasion confusion or mistakes, in the following notes and observations. The Critics are divided in their opinions between the original and the altered copy. Some prefer the first, as a more general representation of human life, where fraud too often succeeds, and innocence suffers: others prefer the latter, as a more general description of what life should be ... However, if pity and terror, as the Critics say, are the principal objects of Tragedy, surely no Play that ever was written can possibly answer both these ends better than this [i.e. the original] performance, as it stands in the present text." The author's stance may have been influential in eventually restoring Shakespeare's original play to the stage and to print. RARE. With [Charlotte Lennox's] Shakespear Illustrated: or the Novels and Histories On which the Plays of Shakespear Are Founded, Collected and Translated from the Original Authors. With Critical Remarks. In Two Volumes. By the Author of the Female Quixote (London, 1753, 2 vols., 12mo, contemporary calf, worn, upper cover of vol. one detached. A supplementary third volume, not present here and not called for on the title page of vol. one (where it states "In Two Volumes"), appeared in 1755). (3)