Shakespeares Book: The Intertwined Lives Behind the First Folio

(Hardback)

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The true story of how the First Folio creators made Shakespeare
The year 2023 marks the 400th anniversary of Mr William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, known today simply as the First Folio. It is difficult to imagine a world without The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Antony and Cleopatra, The Winters Tale and Macbeth, but these are just some of the plays that were only preserved thanks to the astounding labour of love that went into creating the first collection.

Shakespeares Book: The Intertwined Lives Behind the First Folio charts, for the first time, the manufacture of the First Folio against a turbulent backdrop of seismic political events and international tensions that intersected with the lives of its creators. Shakespeare scholar Dr Chris Laoutaris uncovers the friendships, bonds, social ties and professional networks that facilitated the production of Shakespeare s book, as well as the personal challenges, tragedies and dangers that threatened its completion. And he considers how Shakespeare himself, before his death, may have influenced the ways in which his own public identity would come to be enshrined in the First Folio, shaping the transmission of his legacy to future generations and determining how the world would remember him not of an age, but for all time.

Reviews

PRAISE FOR SHAKESPEARES BOOK

A lively picture of multiple operators scrambling to steal a march on the competition . . . Lavishly detailedFT

In crafting this exquisite book . . .The extensive, impeccable research has shed new light on a dazzling cast of characters and events drawn from the theatrical, social and political world of Jacobean England, as well as bringing the playwright himself vividly to life. Beautifully written and utterly compelling, this book comprises all the drama, intrigue and surprises of a Shakespeare play. A stunning achievement Tracy Borman

'[A] significant offering his mission is admirable: to trace every major step in the collective enterprise, starting from the death of the leading Shakespearean actor Richard Burbage in 1619, which served as a melancholy spur to collate the Bard's works for posterity [T]he necessary drama is there' Daily Telegraph

[A] brilliant new study of the Folios genesis vivid evocations of the clamour and bustle of Londons bookselling hub are genuinely thrilling. Shakespeares Book offers both wonderful vignettes of Shakespeares world and tantalising solutions to long-standing mysteries Laoutaris compellingly recreates the vital collaborations and rivalries behind the printing of "Shakespeare's Book" The Tablet

'This is a monumental history of Shakespeare's First Folio This is a global history linked to parochial history, history felt upon the pulses Hundreds of new facts appear in the book which is a traditional work of literary historical scholarship and none the worse for that Chris Laoutaris is part of the new wave, finding new facts in multitudes' Richard Clegg, Bookmunch

Intricately woven, vividly depicted and groundbreaking Dr Paul Edmondson, Head of Research for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Author Bio

Laoutaris is the recipient of the Morley Medal in English and the Ker Memorial Prize in English. He has reviewed for many academic publishers and journals; has written for the Financial Times, Sunday Express, Times Higher Education Supplement, and BBC History Magazine, among others; and has provided historical and Shakespearean consultancy to the Royal Shakespeare Company and numerous film and documentary production companies.