Edward Capell (1713 1781) published his landmark edition of Shakespeare's works in ten volumes during 1767 8. It was the first edition to be prepared from a completely new transcript from the surviving Folio and Quartos rather than a marked-up copy of the previous edition, and thus he inaugurated a new direction in textual editing of Shakespeare's work. In 1779 Capell gave away the library of books used in the preparation of his edition, and the most valuable part of the collection, comprising 245 volumes including his copies of the quartos, went to Trinity College. Capell insisted his books...