LEO:
Shakesperean (also:) Shakespearean (adj.) - shakespearesch (auch:) shakespearisch
Shakesperian (also:) Shakespearian (adj.) - shakespearesch (auch:) shakespearisch
Chambers:
Shakespearean or Shakespearian
http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/feat...Concise Oxford:
Shakespearean (also Shakespearian)
http://www.askoxford.com/results/?view=dict&f...M-W (same as Webster's 3rd unabridged):
¹Shake·spear·ean
Variant(s): or Shake·spear·ian
also Shak·sper·ean or Shak·sper·ian
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/shakespeareanNOAD:
Shakespeare, William - ...
DERIVATIVES Shakespearean (also Shakespearian) [n. & adj.]
Random House unabridged:
Shakespearean ... Also, Shakespearian.
OED:
Shakespearian, a. (and sb.) Also Shakespearean, Shakspe(a)rian, -ean.
The forms in -ian
are alone correct according to the relevant analogies. The other variations follow the diversities of spelling of the poet's name. The spelling Shakspere,
adopted in the first edition of this Dictionary, was advocated by Sir F. Madden on the ground of the signature in the poet's copy of Florio's Montaigne,
and accepted by Dr. Furnivall and the New Shakspere Society; the standard form is now Shakespeare.
Fowler/Burchfield:
Shakespeare. Now universally spelt thus but in the early decades of the 20c.
Shakspere was the more usual form, and was recommended by the OED (1913) and by Fowler (1926). The corresponding adj. (and noun) may be written as
Shakespearian (thus in the house style of OUP) or
Shakespearean (in The Times).
Garner:
Shakespeare; Shakespere; Shakespere; Shakspeare; Shakespear. Although each of these variations has appeared at one time or another in scholarly writing,
Shakespeare is the standard spelling.
Shakespearean; Shakespearian. The first spelling is standard AmE, the second a primarily BrE variant. On the merits,
Shakespearean is preferable because it preserves the final vowel in the great bard's name. Cf. Euclidean & Mephistophelean.
web hits:
+Shakespearean - 2,820,000 (GooBooks 4,450, GooSchol 25,600)
+Shakespearian - 637,000 (GooBooks 2,930, GooSchol 6,880)
+Shaksperean - 633 (GooBooks 790, GooSchol 188)
+Shaksperian - 889 (GooBooks 917, GooSchol 276)
+Shakesperean - 42,800 (GooBooks 806, GooSchol 216)
+Shakesperian - 35,100 (GooBooks 841, GooSchol 301)