For many younger Dutch people the name Burgersdijk is no longer as familiar as it has been to generations of Dutch readers and play-goers ever since this translator of Shakespeare finished the first version in Dutch of the Complete Works more than a century ago. In this article, the author goes deeper into the life and work of Burgersdijk and investigates the role of this translator in the reception of Shakespeare until 1900. Schoneveld concludes by saying that Burgersdijk, teacher of biology, literary amateur and born too early to belong to the young generation of writers in the 1880s, managed to infuse the last twenty years of the century with the powerful stimulus of Shakespeare’s drama and poetry, and if Dutch culture was finally ripe to recognize the Bard’s genius, it was Burgersdijk arriving at the right moment who allowed the fruits to be reaped.