The New Shakspere Society was founded in Autumn 1873 by Frederick James Furnivall in order "to do honor to Shakspere, to make out the succession of his plays, and thereby the growth of his mind and art; to promote the intelligent study of him, and to print Texts illustrating his works and times..."[1] Furnivall deliberately used an archaic spelling of Shakespeare's name in order to distinguish his Society from the earlier Shakespeare Society (1840–1853) organized by the scholar and forger John Payne Collier.