Abstract
The opening chapter explores the formation of the group, its body politic and its Achilles Heel, New Shakspere Society founder and director, Frederick J. Furnivall. Alternatively malevolent and magnanimous, Furnivall was seemingly all things to all people. One thing for certain, Furnivall was one of the most powerful of London’s literati. If Furnivall took an interest in your work, you were assured publication in the New Shakspere Society Transactions as well as puff pieces in the Academy, Athenaeum, and Examiner. That said, Furnivall’s controversial chokehold over the Society, its editorial projects, internal processes, and financial accounts undermined the otherwise highly collaborative activities of its members, who quickly realized that society did not mean equality: Most accepted Furnivall’s disproportionate influence; others, repulsed by Furnivall, resigned.