Among the earliest editors of Shakespeare were several of the eighteenth century's most powerful writers. Scholars and Gentlemen demonstrates how much was at stake for these writers in the editing of English texts.

Simon Jarvis examines not only eighteenth-century texts of Shakespeare, but also sources as disparate as Pope's Dunciad, eighteenth-century classical and scriptural editing, and Johnson's Dictionary to show the importance of politically contested representations of scholars and scholarship for the formation of British public literary culture. Offering an unprecedented detailed...