Editing Isaac Reed (section)

==Biography==
The son of a baker, he was born in [[London]]. He was articled to a [[solicitor]], and eventually set up as a [[Conveyancing|conveyancer]] at [[Staple Inn]], where he had a large practice.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Reed, Isaac|volume=22|page=973}}</ref>

His major work was the ''Biographia dramatica'' (2 vols., 1782), a set of biographies of dramatists and a descriptive dictionary of their plays. This book, which was an enlargement of [[David Erskine Baker]]'s ''Companion to the Playhouse'' (2 vols., 1764), was re-edited (3 vols.) by [[Stephen Jones (editor)|Stephen Jones]] in 1811. The original work by Baker had been based on [[Gerard Langbaine]]'s ''Account of the English Dramatick Poets'' (1691), [[Giles Jacob]]'s ''Poetical Register'' (1719), [[Thomas Whincop]]'s ''List of all the Dramatic Authors'' (printed with his tragedy of ''Scanderbeg'', 1747) and the manuscripts of [[Thomas Coxeter]]. Reed's ''Notitia dramatica'' ([[British Library]], Add MSS 25390–25392), supplementary to the ''Biographia'', was never published.<ref name="EB1911"/>

He also revised [[Robert Dodsley]]'s ''Collection of Old Plays'' (12 vols., 1780); and re-edited [[Samuel Johnson]] and [[George Steevens]]'s edition (1773) of Shakespeare.  Reed's edition was published in ten volumes (1785), and he gave great assistance to Steevens in his edition (1793). He was Steevens's [[literary executor]], and in 1803 published another edition (21 vols.) based on Steevens's later collections. This, which is known as the first variorum, was re-issued ten years later.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref>Michael Dobson and Stanley Wells: ''The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare.'' OUP 2001. pg. 370.</ref>

Reed directed the ''[[European Magazine]]'' as a proprietor and editor, from 1782 for the duration of his life.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bsuva.org/bsuva/euromag/ |first=Emily Lorraine |last=de Montluzin |title=Attributions of Authorship in the ''European Magazine'', 1782–1826 |publisher=University of Virginia}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Arthur |last=Sherbo |title=Isaac Reed and the European Magazine |journal=Studies in Bibliography |volume=37 |date=1984 |pages=210–227}}</ref> After his death, his library of theatrical literature was catalogued for sale as ''Bibliotheca Reediana'' (1807).<ref name="EB1911"/>

In 2016, it was announced that a [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] [[First Folio]] had been discovered in the library of [[Mount Stuart House]].<ref>{{cite news |last= Coughlan |first= Sean |date= 7 April 2016 |title= Shakespeare First Folio discovered on Scottish island |url= https://www.bbc.com/news/education-35973094 |newspaper= [[BBC News]] |access-date= 14 April 2016 }}</ref> The book was identified as a working copy once owned by Reed, who had bought it in 1786.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2016-04-07-new-shakespeare-first-folio-discovered-400-years-after-his-death|title=New Shakespeare First Folio discovered 400 years after his death {{!}} University of Oxford|website=www.ox.ac.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-04-04}}</ref>