Bibliography of the Bacon-Shakespeare controversy

"Bibliography of the Bacon-Shakespeare controversy" by W. H. Wyman is a bibliographical reference work written in the late 19th century. It assembles and annotates the literature surrounding the debate over whether William Shakespeare or Francis Bacon (or others) authored the Shakespearean plays, presenting titles, notes, and extracts from both sides to guide investigators. The focus is the authorship controversy’s printed record—books, pamphlets, periodicals, reviews, and notable newspaper pieces—arranged to help readers trace the argument’s rise and main lines of reasoning.

The opening of the volume presents a preface explaining the compiler’s aim: although personally convinced Shakespeare wrote the plays, he strives for impartiality by cataloging the debate comprehensively and adding brief, balanced notes and extracts. He outlines scope and method (chronological arrangement; tags for Pro-Sh., Anti-Sh., and Unc.; selective inclusion of collateral matter), acknowledges practical limits, and summarizes the corpus by stance, nationality, and time trends, noting a sharp late-century surge and the likelihood the dispute will endure. The annotated entries then begin by identifying early doubts (Joseph C. Hart’s 1848 critique; the 1852 Chambers article suggesting Shakespeare “kept a poet”), the first Bacon link by Delia Bacon (1856) and her later book proposing hidden philosophical design, William Henry Smith’s Bacon advocacy and the immediate wave of rebuttals, and a stream of reviews and exchanges across major journals. Subsequent early listings highlight pivotal contributions (notably Judge Nathaniel Holmes’s strongly Baconian 1866 treatise) and public flare-ups such as the New York Herald’s 1874 symposium, while regularly registering pro-Shakespeare counters (Ben Jonson’s testimony, Francis Meres’s 1598 notice, Dr. Ingleby’s Centurie of Prayse) and curiosities like the Northumberland manuscript scribblings—setting the stage for the extensive, continuing record that follows. (This is an automatically generated summary.)