William James Rolfe

William James Rolfe, Litt.D. (December 10, 1827 – July 7, 1910) was an American educator and Shakespearean scholar.[1]

Rolfe was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts on December 10, 1827.[1] He attended Amherst College from 1845 through 1848, but left without graduating after three years due to financial hardship. Amherst, though, nonetheless later awarded him an honorary degree. Between 1852 and 1868, he served as headmaster of high schools at Dorchester, Lawrence, Salem, and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Early in his career, he edited selections from Ovid and Virgil and (in collaboration) the Cambridge Course of Physics (six volumes, 1867–68).

Rolfe's Shakespearean work began with an American edition of George Lillie Craik's English of Shakespeare (3rd revised ed., 1864, LCCN 28-15228), which Crosby and Ainsworth published in 1867 (LCCN 03-26761). This led to his preparation for Harper & Brothers of a complete edition of Shakespeare – the Friendly Edition (forty volumes, 1870–83; new edition, 1903–07). Rolfe's editions proved to be the best-selling versions in America (during a time of increased use of Shakespeare in high school classrooms) due both to his credentials as a high school administrator and to his use of Bowdlerization of the text in order to remove much of Shakespeare's lewd content[2][3].

Rolfe also edited a complete edition of Tennyson (twelve volumes, 1898) and verse by many of the other great English poets. He wrote a very useful Satchel Guide to Europe, revised annually for 35 years, and at least five other books:

  • Shakespeare the Boy (1896)
  • The Elementary Study of English (1896)
  • Life of Shakespeare (1901)
  • Life of William Shakespeare (1904)
  • Shakesperean Proverbs (1908)

William James Rolfe died on July 7, 1910, at the home of a son in Tisbury, Massachusetts.[1] He was the father of John Carew Rolfe, Charles J. Rolfe and George Rolfe, who may all have been academicians.[4]

See also

References
  1. "Dr. W. J. Rolfe, Author, Is Dead". The New York Times. July 8, 1910.
  2. Murphy, Andrew (2003-11-13). Shakespeare in Print: A History and Chronology of Shakespeare Publishing. ISBN 9781139439466.
  3. "Shakespeare in the Class-Room".
  4. According to his New York Times obituary, "Three sons, Prof. John Rolfe of the University of Pennsylvania, Prof. George Rolfe and Prof. Charles J. Rolfe of Cambridge, survive [Dr. Rolfe]."
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