James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820 1889) was an enthusiastic collector of books on Shakespeare (including nearly all the pre-1660 editions) and a respected and prolific scholar of Elizabethan literature. His extensive collection is now housed at Edinburgh University Library. This volume contains a selection of his early writings and includes: 'A catalogue of the early editions of Shakespeare's plays and of the commentaries and other publications illustrative of his works' (1841); 'An account of the only known manuscript of Shakespeare's plays, comprising some important variations and corrections in the Merry Wives of Windsor' (1843); 'An introduction to Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream' (1841); 'On the character of Sir John Falstaff, as originally exhibited by Shakespeare in the two parts of King Henry IV' (1841); 'Curiosities of Modern Shakespearian Criticism' (1853); 'Observations on some of the manuscript emendations of the text of Shakespeare and are they copyright?' (1853).

Published in 1866, this is a meticulous, encyclopaedic listing of almost every word, place and character in Shakespeare's works. A must-have for every student of English literature, it is also an unparalleled guide for those left in the dark by Shakespearean English. James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820 1889), a renowned scholar, antiquarian, and collector of books on Shakespeare, provided entries for even the manners, customs and proverbs of the Bard's time. Despite the author's disclaimer about some of the 'hastily' prepared entries, the Index remains a monumental scholarly feat of the late nineteenth century. Halliwell not only cross-referenced every entry with the play it appeared in, but also included a list of actors who originally performed in the plays, together with locations and plot sources. With over 5000 annotated references, A Shakespeare Index is still one of the most practical and instructive guides to understanding Shakespearean English.

James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-1889) was a Shakespeare scholar, archaeologist and controversialist with wide antiquarian interests. In 1842, while Librarian of Jesus College, Cambridge, he published The Jokes of the Cambridge Coffee-Houses in the Seventeenth Century, which he described as a collection of early anecdotes 'selected from various Jest Books' which 'serve to show the state of this class of literature during that period'. In this volume it is paired with a pamphlet, The Fresher's Don'ts, written by 'A Sympathiser (B. A.)', (probably A. J. Storey) and first published in the 1890s. This edition was printed in 1913 by Redin and Co. of Trinity Street (with advertisements for Redin's and other Cambridge firms' goods and services at the beginning and the end). This light-hearted guide to student etiquette before the cataclysm of the First World War gives insights into a way of life which was about to vanish forever.