Shakespeare’s Hand in the Play of Sir Thomas More

This 1923 book argues that three pages in a manuscript of Sir Thomas More are in Shakespeare's own handwriting.

This 1923 publication supports the claim that three pages of the British Museum's manuscript of Sir Thomas More were written in Shakespeare's own hand. With contributions by five leading bibliographers, this book presents ample evidence for the case through careful analysis of palaeography, writing style and thematic content.First published in 1923, this book consists of a series of papers written by Pollard, W. W. Greg, E. Maunde Thompson, J. Dover Wilson, and R. W. Chambers, all advocates of the then newly-established New Bibliography. The book was assembled with the intention of strengthening the argument that three pages of Sir Thomas More in the Harleian Manuscript at the British Museum were written in Shakespeare's own hand. The well-established scholars examine the case from several different angles, considering the handwriting in comparison to the known versions of Shakespeare's signature, the bibliographical links between these three pages and the 'good' quartos, and the content of the pages in relation to political ideas expressed elsewhere in Shakespeare. The volume also includes plates of Shakespeare's signatures, analysis of individual letter shapes and parts of the manuscript, and a special transcript of the pages in question.