Description
Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare's First Folio This is the biography of a book: the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays printed in 1623 and known as the First Folio. It begins with the story of its first purchaser in London in December 1623, and goes on to explore the ways people have interacted with this iconic book over the four hundred years of its history. Throughout the stress is on what we can learn from individual copies now spread around the world about their eventful lives. From ink blots to pet paws, from annotations to wineglass rings, First Folios teem with evidence of their place in different contexts with different priorities. This study offers new ways to understand Shakespeare's reception and the history of the book. Unlike previous scholarly investigations of the First Folio, it is not concerned with the discussions of how the book came into being, the provenance of its texts, or the technicalities of its production. Instead, it reanimates, in narrative style, the histories of this book, paying close attention to the details of individual copies now located around the world - their bindings, marginalia, general condition, sales history, and location - to discuss five major themes: owning, reading, decoding, performing, and perfecting. This is a history of the book that consolidated Shakespeare's posthumous reputation: a reception history and a study of interactions between owners, readers, forgers, collectors, actors, scholars, booksellers, and the book through which we understand and recognize Shakespeare.
About the Author
Emma Smith teaches at Hertford College, Oxford, and has published and lectured widely on Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and on the reception of Shakespeare.
Reviews
A fascinating and provocative book. * Daniel Swift, Spectator *
Delightful. * Jerry Brotton, The Daily Telegraph *
Her diligence in considering every aspect of the Folio's material existence is commendable. * Brian Vickers, Times Literary Supplement *
This is a beautifully judged book about books, impeccably researched yet wry and affectionate. * Jerry Brotton, Financial Times *
Smith's account of the Folio's distinguished career is very nicely written and consistently entertaining and informative... It is the modern equivalent of a magic book, and Smith's own book does justice to that magic. * Times Higher Education *
Emma Smith's book comes as a welcome corrective to the fascination with Shakespeare the man ... as it is the "biography" of something far more interesting: a book. * Stuart Kelly, Independent *
I've been looking forward to Emma Smith's Shakespeare's First Folio ever since I heard her give a paper that asked, "can you actually read the First Folio?" It's that sort of arresting question that wouldn't occur to many other people that makes her scholarship so inventive and absorbing. * Jem Bloomfield, Times Higher Education, Summer Reads 2016 *
A charming, enlightening account, not so much of the origins, as of the fortunes over the years subsequently, of the great edition. * David Sexton, Evening Standard *
Smith is one of the cleverest scholars around, but her academic weight is balanced with an accessible tone and wry humour. * Bristol Magazine *
A marvelous bit of scholarship. Detailed without being dry, playful without being silly, it's a well-researched, thoroughly balanced account of this 'iconic book.' * The Oxford Culture Review *
The book is well illustrated, and Smith writes with great style. * Ben Higgins, Review of English Studies *
... offers a wealth of important information, fascinating episodes, and sophisticated critical insight. It will, therefore, be of great interest to a variety of scholars in different disciplines, with literary critics, cultural historians, and scholars of book history foremost among them. * Jose Maria Perez Fernandez, Bulletin of the Comediantes *
[A] compassionate biography... a wonderful testimony to the 'worlds most expensive book' and the readers who keep it that way. * Charlotte Scott, Shakespeare Survey *
This book is a very good read, a largely anecdotal but always entertaining account of copies of the Shakespeare First Folio from their production in 1623 to the present ... the pleasure and instruction this book will bring to the casual bibliophile or the Shakespeare enthusiast. * Alan H. Nelson, Renaissance Quarterly *
Smith's second book, Shakespeare's First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book, picks up where The Making of Shakespeare's First Folio leaves off, tracing different ways of interacting with the Folio owning, reading, forging, acting, collecting, and studying from the seventeenth century to our own time, and from Europe and America to Africa and Asia. * Kevin Curran, Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 *
Thoroughly researched, and well-organized. * Anna Faktorovich, Pennsylvania Literary Journal *
[An] excellent companion. * Camille Ralphs, Poetry Foundation *
Authoritative, lively and accessible. * Rhodri Lewis, Prospect *
Book Information
ISBN 9780192886644
Author Emma Smith
Format Hardback
Page Count 416
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 518g
Dimensions(mm) 224mm * 144mm * 36mm
About the Author
Emma Smith teaches at Hertford College, Oxford, and has published and lectured widely on Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and on the reception of Shakespeare.
Reviews
A fascinating and provocative book. * Daniel Swift, Spectator *
Delightful. * Jerry Brotton, The Daily Telegraph *
Her diligence in considering every aspect of the Folio's material existence is commendable. * Brian Vickers, Times Literary Supplement *
This is a beautifully judged book about books, impeccably researched yet wry and affectionate. * Jerry Brotton, Financial Times *
Smith's account of the Folio's distinguished career is very nicely written and consistently entertaining and informative... It is the modern equivalent of a magic book, and Smith's own book does justice to that magic. * Times Higher Education *
Emma Smith's book comes as a welcome corrective to the fascination with Shakespeare the man ... as it is the "biography" of something far more interesting: a book. * Stuart Kelly, Independent *
I've been looking forward to Emma Smith's Shakespeare's First Folio ever since I heard her give a paper that asked, "can you actually read the First Folio?" It's that sort of arresting question that wouldn't occur to many other people that makes her scholarship so inventive and absorbing. * Jem Bloomfield, Times Higher Education, Summer Reads 2016 *
A charming, enlightening account, not so much of the origins, as of the fortunes over the years subsequently, of the great edition. * David Sexton, Evening Standard *
Smith is one of the cleverest scholars around, but her academic weight is balanced with an accessible tone and wry humour. * Bristol Magazine *
A marvelous bit of scholarship. Detailed without being dry, playful without being silly, it's a well-researched, thoroughly balanced account of this 'iconic book.' * The Oxford Culture Review *
The book is well illustrated, and Smith writes with great style. * Ben Higgins, Review of English Studies *
... offers a wealth of important information, fascinating episodes, and sophisticated critical insight. It will, therefore, be of great interest to a variety of scholars in different disciplines, with literary critics, cultural historians, and scholars of book history foremost among them. * Jose Maria Perez Fernandez, Bulletin of the Comediantes *
[A] compassionate biography... a wonderful testimony to the 'worlds most expensive book' and the readers who keep it that way. * Charlotte Scott, Shakespeare Survey *
This book is a very good read, a largely anecdotal but always entertaining account of copies of the Shakespeare First Folio from their production in 1623 to the present ... the pleasure and instruction this book will bring to the casual bibliophile or the Shakespeare enthusiast. * Alan H. Nelson, Renaissance Quarterly *
Smith's second book, Shakespeare's First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book, picks up where The Making of Shakespeare's First Folio leaves off, tracing different ways of interacting with the Folio owning, reading, forging, acting, collecting, and studying from the seventeenth century to our own time, and from Europe and America to Africa and Asia. * Kevin Curran, Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 *
Thoroughly researched, and well-organized. * Anna Faktorovich, Pennsylvania Literary Journal *
[An] excellent companion. * Camille Ralphs, Poetry Foundation *
Authoritative, lively and accessible. * Rhodri Lewis, Prospect *
Book Information
ISBN 9780192886644
Author Emma Smith
Format Hardback
Page Count 416
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 518g
Dimensions(mm) 224mm * 144mm * 36mm
