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The Book of William: How Shakespeare's First Folio Conquered the World
The first popular narrative history of Shakespeare's First Folio, the world's most obsessively pursued book.
One book above all others has transfixed connoisseurs for four centuries—a book sold for shillings in the streets of London, whisked to Manhattan for millions, and stored deep within the vaults of Tokyo. The book: William Shakespeare's First Folio of 1623. Paul Collins, lover of odd books and author of the national bestseller Sixpence House, takes up the strange quest for this white whale of precious books.
Broken down into five acts, each tied to a different location and century, The Book of William's travelogue follows the trail of the Folio's curious rise: a dizzying S otheby's auction on a pristine copy preserved since the seventeenth century, the Fleet Street machinations of the eighteenth century, the nineteenth century quests for lost Folios, obsessive acquisitions by twentieth century oilmen, and the high-tech hoards of twenty-first century Japan. Finally, Collins speculates on Shakespeare's cross-cultural future as Asian buyers enter their Folios into the electronic ether, and recounts the book's remarkable journey as it is found in attics, gets lost in oceans and fires, is bought and sold, and ultimately becomes immortal.
One book above all others has transfixed connoisseurs for four centuries—a book sold for shillings in the streets of London, whisked to Manhattan for millions, and stored deep within the vaults of Tokyo. The book: William Shakespeare's First Folio of 1623. Paul Collins, lover of odd books and author of the national bestseller Sixpence House, takes up the strange quest for this white whale of precious books.
Broken down into five acts, each tied to a different location and century, The Book of William's travelogue follows the trail of the Folio's curious rise: a dizzying S otheby's auction on a pristine copy preserved since the seventeenth century, the Fleet Street machinations of the eighteenth century, the nineteenth century quests for lost Folios, obsessive acquisitions by twentieth century oilmen, and the high-tech hoards of twenty-first century Japan. Finally, Collins speculates on Shakespeare's cross-cultural future as Asian buyers enter their Folios into the electronic ether, and recounts the book's remarkable journey as it is found in attics, gets lost in oceans and fires, is bought and sold, and ultimately becomes immortal.
243 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2009
18 people are currently reading
1000 people want to read
About the author
Paul Collins
13 books280 followersPaul Collins is a writer specializing in history, memoir, and unusual antiquarian literature. His ten books have been translated into a dozen languages, and include Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books (2003) and The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime that Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars (2011). He lives in Oregon, where he is Chair and Professor of English at Portland State University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
October 12, 2011
Yet another nice little book treat from Mr Collins. I must caution you, however, or perhaps entice you, by saying the book is almost peripherally about Shakespeare biographically, and more about his first collection of works. From a book collecting/book history point of view, I cannot think of a more intriguing and more storied topic than that of Shakespeare's First Folio.
Collins touches upon the printing of the First Folio and basically the history surrounding these exceedingly rare, singularly unique documents. It was fascinating to learn there exist only several hundred copies of this work and that each copy has a unique and distinguishable history. Collins spins tales about the more noteworthy editions and the more interesting collectors of these First Folios. The book finishes quite strongly with a look at the Folger library in Washington DC and the Japanese and their connection to Shakespeare.
I never thought I would find a "beautiful" passage in such a book, but right near the end Collins compares a popular modern Japanese literary(?) form, manga, and draws an unexpected parallel to the literary atmosphere in which Shakespeare wrote. It's a nice gem of a possibility he leaves us with.
Collins compresses a staggering amount of scholarship -- not the regurgitative (my newly coined word?) kind, but truly curious scholarship -- that adds a surprising depth to such a short book. I did not want the book to end. Highly recommended.
Collins touches upon the printing of the First Folio and basically the history surrounding these exceedingly rare, singularly unique documents. It was fascinating to learn there exist only several hundred copies of this work and that each copy has a unique and distinguishable history. Collins spins tales about the more noteworthy editions and the more interesting collectors of these First Folios. The book finishes quite strongly with a look at the Folger library in Washington DC and the Japanese and their connection to Shakespeare.
I never thought I would find a "beautiful" passage in such a book, but right near the end Collins compares a popular modern Japanese literary(?) form, manga, and draws an unexpected parallel to the literary atmosphere in which Shakespeare wrote. It's a nice gem of a possibility he leaves us with.
Collins compresses a staggering amount of scholarship -- not the regurgitative (my newly coined word?) kind, but truly curious scholarship -- that adds a surprising depth to such a short book. I did not want the book to end. Highly recommended.
July 6, 2012
Who knew that following in the footsteps of a world-conquering first edition would be such an emotional experience. Starting at one and the same time at an auction house and the original printing house, Collins does an impressive job chronicling where the extremely limited edition came from, and whose grubby hands were lucky enough to hold on to them - turns out that Samuel Johnston, the creator of the first English dictionary, wins the messiest reader sweepstakes whereas another Johnson, the 16th century Prof of Mathematics William Johnstone gets the most-thorough annotator award as well as the happy distinction of being the first-known scholar of Shakespeare's plays. It got really emotional for me when Collins went to the land of tomorrow, Japan, to discover the future application for the First Folio, at Meisei University in Tokyo. Not only home to the second largest collection of Folios after the Folgers' collection in Washington, but also that one of the scholar working on the digitization of the texts happens to be related to world-famous filmmaker Akira Kurosawa had me in tears. Someday the words that Shakespeare wrote, scratched onto parchment with his own quill, may be found, but I will stick to the argument that the stack of pages Condell and Heminges originally commissioned are as close as we will get to Shakespeare's mind.
August 4, 2024
Fascinating. A look at when and how Shakespeare became a popular author. It mainly had to do with entrepreneurial printers needing to make a buck, and marketing. Also, he’s beloved outside the English speaking world as well.
February 13, 2014
This is the second Paul Collins' book that I've read and again I'm left with the feeling that there are interesting tidbits and possibilities here but overall
the book does not work on its terms. There's not enough connection between the discrete pieces and the title is again misleading. This is NOT about how Shakespeare's first folio conquered the world or about how Shakespeare conquered the world but is, rather, a collection of vignettes, interesting on their own, about some of those who compiled and/or owned various iterations of the folio. There is very nice section of Shakespeare in Japan and this might have made for a better, more interesting, more unified book. There just wasn't enough meat here - not enough sustained scholarship. It was more a matter of Paul's random (albeit detailed) meanderings about in the world of the folios. But not enough to hold it all together.
the book does not work on its terms. There's not enough connection between the discrete pieces and the title is again misleading. This is NOT about how Shakespeare's first folio conquered the world or about how Shakespeare conquered the world but is, rather, a collection of vignettes, interesting on their own, about some of those who compiled and/or owned various iterations of the folio. There is very nice section of Shakespeare in Japan and this might have made for a better, more interesting, more unified book. There just wasn't enough meat here - not enough sustained scholarship. It was more a matter of Paul's random (albeit detailed) meanderings about in the world of the folios. But not enough to hold it all together.
February 4, 2010
3.5 to 4.0 stars.
History of how Shakespeare's work became published, revised, republished from 1623 (the First Folio) to the late 18th century. Collins also follows the different Folio versions through the years including the identity of the various owners and the prices paid at various times. I thought it was very interesting, but would have liked some images of the title pages and the actual printing (and margin notes) of the different versions. Since he used thumbprint images on the cover, I assume he could have included larger images inside.
History of how Shakespeare's work became published, revised, republished from 1623 (the First Folio) to the late 18th century. Collins also follows the different Folio versions through the years including the identity of the various owners and the prices paid at various times. I thought it was very interesting, but would have liked some images of the title pages and the actual printing (and margin notes) of the different versions. Since he used thumbprint images on the cover, I assume he could have included larger images inside.
July 31, 2009
Man, I love Paul Collins. He can turn books about old books into page-turners.
October 2, 2019
This could have been an outstanding book on the history of Shakespeare’s first folio, the subsequent printings of his collected plays throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the collecting of them today. It is, indeed, fascinating, both in terms of the central subject itself, and the various literary players who weave in and out of the narrative, either as publisher, editor or patron. Paul Collins’ writing is both engaging and tight, bringing to life the wider context that enabled the collected works of Shakespeare to be situated right at the centre of literary history.
What lets it down, however, is the completely unnecessary inclusions of Paul Collins’ wanderings around London, that not only detract from the tale, but actually serve to paint Collins in a poor light - he comes across as snobbish (and although I assume (hope) he isn’t, slightly classist - council flats may not be the most picturesque part of London’s skyline, but they are vitally important and certainly not the unpleasant areas that Collins implies them to be...) and even a little rude. I like to imagine that his actual conversation with a taxi driver was curtailed in the book for some flamboyant literary reason; if he really did just announce his destination in the manner described, I can only imagine the look on the driver’s face...
Without those bizarre interludes, this would have been a 5 star read - the main body of work and writing style was engaging enough without the author having to insert himself in randomly, which ultimately irritated me enough to knock its rating down a little, whilst still acknowledging the book’s overall excellence.
What lets it down, however, is the completely unnecessary inclusions of Paul Collins’ wanderings around London, that not only detract from the tale, but actually serve to paint Collins in a poor light - he comes across as snobbish (and although I assume (hope) he isn’t, slightly classist - council flats may not be the most picturesque part of London’s skyline, but they are vitally important and certainly not the unpleasant areas that Collins implies them to be...) and even a little rude. I like to imagine that his actual conversation with a taxi driver was curtailed in the book for some flamboyant literary reason; if he really did just announce his destination in the manner described, I can only imagine the look on the driver’s face...
Without those bizarre interludes, this would have been a 5 star read - the main body of work and writing style was engaging enough without the author having to insert himself in randomly, which ultimately irritated me enough to knock its rating down a little, whilst still acknowledging the book’s overall excellence.
October 9, 2021
Shakespeare has his following. There are fans, some being deemed Bardolators, whose keen devotion is admirable. There are also scholars, whose devotion and academic expertise is daunting. Then there is Paul Collins, whose is a scholarly Bardolator. His devotion is not only admirable it is delightful and inspiring. His academic approach to studying the first folio is the subject of The Book of William and his journey as he searches for folios is a pleasant one to follow.
His witty observations bely the serious task of investigating the whereabouts and history of the first and subsequent folios. Rich with well-turned quips about his adventures turn this into one of rare finds: an entertaining research source.
His witty observations bely the serious task of investigating the whereabouts and history of the first and subsequent folios. Rich with well-turned quips about his adventures turn this into one of rare finds: an entertaining research source.
February 13, 2024
With the notable exception of the last chapter -on the Folio in Japan- this was a pretty disorganised narrative, quite vulgarly told (the audible format narrator is annoyingly flippant); for a more accessible and coherent history of the First Folio checkout: Shakespeare's First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book and The Shakespeare Wars: Clashing Scholars, Public Fiascoes, Palace Coups.
December 4, 2018
Another amazing account of research run amok, and thanks to Paul Collins, it's fascinating. He developed an interest in the first folios of Shakespeare's works ever printed, and followed the process of collecting the material after Shakespeare's death, printing and selling the volumes (and corrections which led to later editions), and the subsequent history of the individual copies. It turns out that the Folger Library in Washington, DC and the Meisei University Library in Japan have the largest collections, thanks to some obsessive-compulsive people who devoted their lives to them.
March 30, 2022
Fascinating, so much dig-deep detail, yet good storytelling and pacing so that it feels very like a mystery told by fireside.
The best kind of nonfiction ramble.
Collins always delivers the goods.
The best kind of nonfiction ramble.
Collins always delivers the goods.
June 12, 2018
A nice precise look at a seemingly small topic that expands into many different fields. Collins' writing is a little too arch for me at times.
August 5, 2018
Very engaging and informative
December 31, 2018
Fascinating topic. Engaging writing. A page turner. I devoured it, wanting more. Highly recommended.
February 29, 2020
Fascinating and informative read.
Read
April 28, 2020👍
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 21, 2020
I'd assumed that Shakespeare was always popular and always in print. Not so. This was a delightful ramble for me.
February 13, 2021
Fascinating.
April 11, 2021
Fascinating subject but too much vulgar language
September 10, 2021
A Beautifully researched, cleverly organized, compellingly written narrative/history/archeology of the most famous book. For so many reasons I envy Paul Collins.
July 12, 2022
Fantastic, thorough, engaging read that covered everything I could have asked for and tons more.
August 26, 2022
Scattered with interesting information but I didn’t really gel with the writing style.
September 3, 2018
A quite interesting look at the history of how Shakespeare has been published, how the cult of his work has developed, and book collecting. The author's writing style was light and entertaining. I don't think you have to particularly love Shakespeare to enjoy this book, but it certainly helps.
April 25, 2010
A few years before Shakespeare's First Folio was first pressed on paper, a gifted writer graced the world with a brilliant horse-care manual, proffering advice for gaining your horse's loyalty by fasting him for days and then smearing honey and oatmeal all over your chest. Why is one of these books the most valuable book in existence, while the other is mostly forgotten? The Book of William tries to answer this and many other questions (in this case, the horse-book's publisher made the author take an oath to never write a book on livestock again, which may have hurt sales).
If you've read any of Paul Collins' recent books, you know what to expect: An historical subject researched, found to intertwine with numerous cultural movements throughout history, and the author traveling to the modern locations where these events unfolded long ago. It works here about as well as ever, only slightly hindered by the fame of his subject, compared to the more obscure subjects he's chosen before, like Peter the Wild Boy and Thomas Paine (true, he's also well-known, but Collins' decision to write of the adventures of his corpse brings the book into less-traveled territory). Collins offers a well-paced trip through the history of how Shakespeare was appreciated through history, and the concomitant journeys of the surviving folios. Some moments in particular manage to sound much more alive and vibrant than any centuries-old literary movement should, such as the rivalry between Alexander Pope (who "rescued" Shakespeare by censoring the crude and base content of the plays, which certainly must not have been written by the Bard himself) and Lewis Theobald, who had the temerity to stick to the text of the first folio (Theobald is mainly remembered today for a biting satirical poem by Pope, though at least he gets the consolation of having been right).
By the fourth act of the book, when Collins begins visiting the folios, the book returns to the themes of its opening passages, at a New York book auction, offering reflections into bibliophilia, and what it means to stand in front of a bookshelf with books worth tens of millions of dollars, which the digitized content of those books is available to anyone with an internet connection. And are these books more valuable now, locked away in bank vaults, than when they were in the hands of scholars and middle-class afficianados, who actually weren’t afraid to get their grubby hands on the books? (In the copy owned by Samuel Johnson, one can divine which plays he liked the best based on the amount of gravy stains he got on the pages)
Overall, this book gave me exactly what I expected, which was a lively history with plenty of delightful surprises, unearthed by Collins from the cultural detritus of the past four centuries or so. It perhaps lacks the punch of The Trouble With Tom or Not Even Wrong, but few books do. Well worth a read.
If you've read any of Paul Collins' recent books, you know what to expect: An historical subject researched, found to intertwine with numerous cultural movements throughout history, and the author traveling to the modern locations where these events unfolded long ago. It works here about as well as ever, only slightly hindered by the fame of his subject, compared to the more obscure subjects he's chosen before, like Peter the Wild Boy and Thomas Paine (true, he's also well-known, but Collins' decision to write of the adventures of his corpse brings the book into less-traveled territory). Collins offers a well-paced trip through the history of how Shakespeare was appreciated through history, and the concomitant journeys of the surviving folios. Some moments in particular manage to sound much more alive and vibrant than any centuries-old literary movement should, such as the rivalry between Alexander Pope (who "rescued" Shakespeare by censoring the crude and base content of the plays, which certainly must not have been written by the Bard himself) and Lewis Theobald, who had the temerity to stick to the text of the first folio (Theobald is mainly remembered today for a biting satirical poem by Pope, though at least he gets the consolation of having been right).
By the fourth act of the book, when Collins begins visiting the folios, the book returns to the themes of its opening passages, at a New York book auction, offering reflections into bibliophilia, and what it means to stand in front of a bookshelf with books worth tens of millions of dollars, which the digitized content of those books is available to anyone with an internet connection. And are these books more valuable now, locked away in bank vaults, than when they were in the hands of scholars and middle-class afficianados, who actually weren’t afraid to get their grubby hands on the books? (In the copy owned by Samuel Johnson, one can divine which plays he liked the best based on the amount of gravy stains he got on the pages)
Overall, this book gave me exactly what I expected, which was a lively history with plenty of delightful surprises, unearthed by Collins from the cultural detritus of the past four centuries or so. It perhaps lacks the punch of The Trouble With Tom or Not Even Wrong, but few books do. Well worth a read.
August 31, 2009
Ben Johnson said of his fellow playwright and friend, "He is not of an age, but for all time," but if it weren't for two of his business partners and fellow actors, the world might not know William Shakespeare at all.
If you have ever been in an English lit class, you've read Shakespeare. You may have read him more than once. I've read and appreciated his work many times, seen several stage productions, even a couple of movies. Never have I given a thought of how the most important literary works in the English language made it to us from seventeenth-century London.
In his book, The Book of William: How Shakespeare's First Folio Conquered the World, author Paul Collins takes us on a journey through the nearly four centuries of First Folio history. After the Bard's death in 1616, John Heminge and Henry Condell, in an effort to preserve their friend's work had his plays printed in a single collection we now know as the First Folio. It wasn't a terribly easy task. When Heminge and Condell began amassing the plays shortly after Shakespears's death, very few papers written in his own hand remained...no complete plays, only rough drafts. There were some plays that had been published in quarto, so the men had to make do with what they had and what they remembered. They were the only two men alive who had walked the boards with Shakespeare, had spoken the lines he had written for them and had taken his direction. They alone could identify his work from forgery...and there was forgery. Through dedication and perseverance born of friendship, Heminge and Condell accomplished the most monumental feat in the history of literature. Without the First Folio, eighteen of the plays would have joined Cardenio and Love's Labors Wonne and been lost forever...As You Like It, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, The Tempest and Twelfth Night among them.
After the story of the birth of the First Folio, Collins leads us on a four-hundred-year chronicle of the world's most valuable book. Of the approximately one thousand that were printed, there are about two hundred and twenty copies that are known to still exist. There is the inevitable copy found in a dusty attic. Some whose owners left their names inside so that their history is well documented. Others were not so fortunate. One was lost in the Great Chicago Fire, and there's at least one at the bottom of the North Atlantic.
It's a good book about a book, I loved it and I'll stop there. Definitely 4 1/2 stars. I would have given it 5 if the book had a map of London that contained the areas mentioned for those readers like me who are very visual. Otherwise, I would recommend it to anyone who loves and appreciates Shakespeare and his profound influence on us even today.
If you have ever been in an English lit class, you've read Shakespeare. You may have read him more than once. I've read and appreciated his work many times, seen several stage productions, even a couple of movies. Never have I given a thought of how the most important literary works in the English language made it to us from seventeenth-century London.
In his book, The Book of William: How Shakespeare's First Folio Conquered the World, author Paul Collins takes us on a journey through the nearly four centuries of First Folio history. After the Bard's death in 1616, John Heminge and Henry Condell, in an effort to preserve their friend's work had his plays printed in a single collection we now know as the First Folio. It wasn't a terribly easy task. When Heminge and Condell began amassing the plays shortly after Shakespears's death, very few papers written in his own hand remained...no complete plays, only rough drafts. There were some plays that had been published in quarto, so the men had to make do with what they had and what they remembered. They were the only two men alive who had walked the boards with Shakespeare, had spoken the lines he had written for them and had taken his direction. They alone could identify his work from forgery...and there was forgery. Through dedication and perseverance born of friendship, Heminge and Condell accomplished the most monumental feat in the history of literature. Without the First Folio, eighteen of the plays would have joined Cardenio and Love's Labors Wonne and been lost forever...As You Like It, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, The Tempest and Twelfth Night among them.
After the story of the birth of the First Folio, Collins leads us on a four-hundred-year chronicle of the world's most valuable book. Of the approximately one thousand that were printed, there are about two hundred and twenty copies that are known to still exist. There is the inevitable copy found in a dusty attic. Some whose owners left their names inside so that their history is well documented. Others were not so fortunate. One was lost in the Great Chicago Fire, and there's at least one at the bottom of the North Atlantic.
It's a good book about a book, I loved it and I'll stop there. Definitely 4 1/2 stars. I would have given it 5 if the book had a map of London that contained the areas mentioned for those readers like me who are very visual. Otherwise, I would recommend it to anyone who loves and appreciates Shakespeare and his profound influence on us even today.
May 1, 2012
In 2006, an auction at Sotheby’s saw one of the few complete copies of Shakespeare’s First Folio go under the hammer, and at the end of the day, an anonymous bidder was poorer by $5.8 million, but in exchange for this astronomical sum, they now possessed one of the most important works in the history of English literature.
It is here at Sotheby’s that “The Book of William” begins, with a book that was once considered to be worth less than the paper on which it was printed. Paul Collins takes us from the crowded auction house back to early 17th century London when two aging actors first approached printer and bookseller William Jaggard to propose a new book, a collection of plays by their late friend and colleague William Shakespeare. These two actors, John Heminge and Henry Condell, held a unique position in regards to Shakespeare. They had both been remembered in his will, and as the only surviving members of the King’s Men and stakeholders in the Globe Theatre, they were the only living individuals who held such intimate knowledge of Shakespeare and his plays. Using their own memories, a few rough drafts, prompt books from the Globe, and copies of previously printed plays, they began to compile the works of one of the greatest writers who ever lived.
From the First Folio’s unassuming beginning, Collins follows this remarkable work as it gets pushed aside for newer editions which at the time were considered improved by all the changes made. He details the various events over two centuries which take the First Folio from the back of the bookshelf to its rightful place as the definitive and most significant edition of Shakespeare’s works.
The journey that we follow with Collins takes us around the world in search of First Folios. We visit the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. home of the world’s largest collection of First Folios. Out of the 228 copies known to exist, the Folger possesses 79. From D.C. we travel to Meisei University in Tokyo which follows a distant second behind the Folger in number of Folios with 12. It is in Japan within the Kabuki adaptations of Hamlet and productions of Julius Caesar using Bunraku puppets that we see how far Shakespeare’s influence reaches across the globe.
In “The Book of William” Collins is able to distill a massive amount of research into an engaging and readable history. It is a fascinating account of a literary masterpiece, and is a must read for anyone who has ever tiptoed through the forest with Puck or mourned with Juliet when she finds her lover dead beside her. Don’t miss this incredible story.
It is here at Sotheby’s that “The Book of William” begins, with a book that was once considered to be worth less than the paper on which it was printed. Paul Collins takes us from the crowded auction house back to early 17th century London when two aging actors first approached printer and bookseller William Jaggard to propose a new book, a collection of plays by their late friend and colleague William Shakespeare. These two actors, John Heminge and Henry Condell, held a unique position in regards to Shakespeare. They had both been remembered in his will, and as the only surviving members of the King’s Men and stakeholders in the Globe Theatre, they were the only living individuals who held such intimate knowledge of Shakespeare and his plays. Using their own memories, a few rough drafts, prompt books from the Globe, and copies of previously printed plays, they began to compile the works of one of the greatest writers who ever lived.
From the First Folio’s unassuming beginning, Collins follows this remarkable work as it gets pushed aside for newer editions which at the time were considered improved by all the changes made. He details the various events over two centuries which take the First Folio from the back of the bookshelf to its rightful place as the definitive and most significant edition of Shakespeare’s works.
The journey that we follow with Collins takes us around the world in search of First Folios. We visit the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. home of the world’s largest collection of First Folios. Out of the 228 copies known to exist, the Folger possesses 79. From D.C. we travel to Meisei University in Tokyo which follows a distant second behind the Folger in number of Folios with 12. It is in Japan within the Kabuki adaptations of Hamlet and productions of Julius Caesar using Bunraku puppets that we see how far Shakespeare’s influence reaches across the globe.
In “The Book of William” Collins is able to distill a massive amount of research into an engaging and readable history. It is a fascinating account of a literary masterpiece, and is a must read for anyone who has ever tiptoed through the forest with Puck or mourned with Juliet when she finds her lover dead beside her. Don’t miss this incredible story.
February 12, 2016
For a text that is essentially about historical publishing and modern book collecting "The Book of William" reads like a mystery. Mr. Collins repeatedly ends his chapters with cliffhanger lines that transition into his next point. It works well, and makes for exciting reading. Collins deftly traces printed Shakespeare through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries with the gusto and depth of a literary detective. You almost feel like you are reading investigative reporting at times. An unusual take considering the subject matter, but it works!
Paul Collins' book is in essence about the "First Folio" of Shakespeare's works, with a few (nicely done) digressions thrown in. He writes in a colloquial style with a lot of common vernacular, and anyone could pick this book up and follow it, even with no knowledge of Shakespeare and Elizabethan history. Yet, this text is not dumbed down, and there is much new knowledge to be found in its pages, even for someone who reads everything Shakespeare related that they can get their hands on.
"The Book of William" contains many historical nuggets that most people will not be aware of, and Collins especially shines when he writes about the "Printer Wars" of the 1730s. It is a great tale, and explains the proliferation of Shakespeare as printed texts. It was a very key moment in the history of Shakespeare's modern legacy, and it was the first time I had ever heard of it. Another excellent moment in the book is when Collins writes about thumbing through Dr. Johnson's copy of the Folio. It becomes a quiet rumination on what books tell us about their owners, and it is simply lovely.
Of course no book dealing with Shakespeare's First Folio can ignore the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC, and this book gives us an intriguing account of the mysterious place and its many mysteries.
Curiously the text ends with a chapter focused on Shakespeare in Japan. It is odd, and yet it seems to work. I am not sure why. It is also informative, which is a plus. A Japanese view on Shakespeare is not something that comes up often in English language books, and I am still not sure why it gets the depth of attention it does in this text.
"The Book of William" has less to do with the Bard and his plays and more about how the Folio (and its sequels) helped shape Shakespeare's modern legacy, which leads to how subsequent generations came to view him and his work. It is a quick and delightful read, and deserves a spot on the shelf of any fan of that greatest of English writers.
Paul Collins' book is in essence about the "First Folio" of Shakespeare's works, with a few (nicely done) digressions thrown in. He writes in a colloquial style with a lot of common vernacular, and anyone could pick this book up and follow it, even with no knowledge of Shakespeare and Elizabethan history. Yet, this text is not dumbed down, and there is much new knowledge to be found in its pages, even for someone who reads everything Shakespeare related that they can get their hands on.
"The Book of William" contains many historical nuggets that most people will not be aware of, and Collins especially shines when he writes about the "Printer Wars" of the 1730s. It is a great tale, and explains the proliferation of Shakespeare as printed texts. It was a very key moment in the history of Shakespeare's modern legacy, and it was the first time I had ever heard of it. Another excellent moment in the book is when Collins writes about thumbing through Dr. Johnson's copy of the Folio. It becomes a quiet rumination on what books tell us about their owners, and it is simply lovely.
Of course no book dealing with Shakespeare's First Folio can ignore the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC, and this book gives us an intriguing account of the mysterious place and its many mysteries.
Curiously the text ends with a chapter focused on Shakespeare in Japan. It is odd, and yet it seems to work. I am not sure why. It is also informative, which is a plus. A Japanese view on Shakespeare is not something that comes up often in English language books, and I am still not sure why it gets the depth of attention it does in this text.
"The Book of William" has less to do with the Bard and his plays and more about how the Folio (and its sequels) helped shape Shakespeare's modern legacy, which leads to how subsequent generations came to view him and his work. It is a quick and delightful read, and deserves a spot on the shelf of any fan of that greatest of English writers.
January 7, 2010
I found the book’s title somewhat misleading. I was expecting much of The Book of William to be about how, during the past four centuries, the First Folio greatly affected generation after generation, and changed the way we see the world as well as the way we read literature. After all, the rest of the book’s title read: How Shakespeare’s First Folio Conquered the World.
Instead the first half of this book is an easy-to-read history about the publishing of different editions of Shakespeare’s plays from 1623 to the late 18th Century.
The second half of the book is about the fate of some of the First Folios and how they were acquired. Finally, Mr. Collins describes his visits to the two libraries holding the largest number of Folios: the Folger Library in Washington D.C. and the Meisei Library in Japan. and describes the condition of several Folios, and how they were treated or mistreated over the years.
One of the things that makes this book so enjoyable is Mr. Collins bringing many characters to life, two of whom we already know: Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson.
We are often reminded that book publishing and collecting is, in the end, more about interesting people than anything else.
And so I enjoyed learning about the world of antiquarian books.
The Book of William fueled my appetite to learn even more about the First Folio - how it was printed and what happened to many of the copies - so I was left with the feeling I wanted to known even more.
I, therefore, wonder: Did Mr. Collins leave a lot of the story out? I can’t answer the question. I am, however, grateful I read this book, though I think illustrations and photographs would have improved it.
If you like Shakespeare and/or have an interest in book collecting you’ll love this book.
Instead the first half of this book is an easy-to-read history about the publishing of different editions of Shakespeare’s plays from 1623 to the late 18th Century.
The second half of the book is about the fate of some of the First Folios and how they were acquired. Finally, Mr. Collins describes his visits to the two libraries holding the largest number of Folios: the Folger Library in Washington D.C. and the Meisei Library in Japan. and describes the condition of several Folios, and how they were treated or mistreated over the years.
One of the things that makes this book so enjoyable is Mr. Collins bringing many characters to life, two of whom we already know: Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson.
We are often reminded that book publishing and collecting is, in the end, more about interesting people than anything else.
And so I enjoyed learning about the world of antiquarian books.
The Book of William fueled my appetite to learn even more about the First Folio - how it was printed and what happened to many of the copies - so I was left with the feeling I wanted to known even more.
I, therefore, wonder: Did Mr. Collins leave a lot of the story out? I can’t answer the question. I am, however, grateful I read this book, though I think illustrations and photographs would have improved it.
If you like Shakespeare and/or have an interest in book collecting you’ll love this book.
June 30, 2015
This book is so enjoyable. It traces the very first printed folio, the second, third and fourth, and ends by tracking the still-extant copies down to their current addresses - those that haven't simply disappeared.
Which doesn't sound thrilling, I know, but the author has a winning style, and makes this story into something between a detective story and a documentary. The personalities involved are sometimes larger than life, like Samuel Johnson, sometimes eccentric scholars you've never heard of, sometimes unscrupulous editors or writers. Collins makes all of them interesting, and gathers many disparate threads into a coherent cloth.
He also obviously loves books. Below is a passage on the much abused and food-stained folio that belonged (wow!) to Doctor Samuel Johnson:
"This is the volume that Theobald peered into as creditors hounded him; these are the lines of type where Johnson sought solace as he wrestled the lonely silence that greeted his Dictionary. In these endpapers, Steevens scratched his comments before making his great circuits of the city; in these marginal notes Burney saw the memorial of his father's generation, whose history was now passing away before his eyes. Books bear a tangible presence alongside their ineffable quality of thought; they have a body and a soul. ...And so here... lies this same folio, bearing mute witness to the overwhelming fact behind every salesroom that it has ever passed through: our books will outlive us."
That is just. Beautiful.
Which doesn't sound thrilling, I know, but the author has a winning style, and makes this story into something between a detective story and a documentary. The personalities involved are sometimes larger than life, like Samuel Johnson, sometimes eccentric scholars you've never heard of, sometimes unscrupulous editors or writers. Collins makes all of them interesting, and gathers many disparate threads into a coherent cloth.
He also obviously loves books. Below is a passage on the much abused and food-stained folio that belonged (wow!) to Doctor Samuel Johnson:
"This is the volume that Theobald peered into as creditors hounded him; these are the lines of type where Johnson sought solace as he wrestled the lonely silence that greeted his Dictionary. In these endpapers, Steevens scratched his comments before making his great circuits of the city; in these marginal notes Burney saw the memorial of his father's generation, whose history was now passing away before his eyes. Books bear a tangible presence alongside their ineffable quality of thought; they have a body and a soul. ...And so here... lies this same folio, bearing mute witness to the overwhelming fact behind every salesroom that it has ever passed through: our books will outlive us."
That is just. Beautiful.
November 14, 2010
Themes: bibliomania, literary criticism, book collecting and preservation, Shakespeare, English history
Setting: starting with early 1700s to present day, England, US, and Japan
All about Shakespeare and how he went from a playwright known in London to the biggest literary figure England ever produced. It reads a little like a biography, a little like English history, like a manual on book collecting and book preservation, like a travelogue, and a lot like a fangirl squee.
It starts with the decision of two of Shakespeare's friends and fellow actors who want to collect the author's works and publish them as they were actually performed. They split the plays more or less into scenes and fix a lot of errors that were included in the so-called Shakespeare editions that already existed. Then they decided to offer it as a folio, a bold decision as those were typically reserved for the classics and cost much more.
And from that beginning to the recent auction of a First Folio that went for 55 times its weight in gold, he traces the significance of the book, the creation of the Shakespeare mystique, and the huge cultural phenomenon that surrounds the author. Parts of this were funny, parts were completely unexpected, and all of it was entertaining reading. Maybe it's because I'm a bit of a fangirl myself, but I really enjoyed this book. Highly recommended.
Setting: starting with early 1700s to present day, England, US, and Japan
All about Shakespeare and how he went from a playwright known in London to the biggest literary figure England ever produced. It reads a little like a biography, a little like English history, like a manual on book collecting and book preservation, like a travelogue, and a lot like a fangirl squee.
It starts with the decision of two of Shakespeare's friends and fellow actors who want to collect the author's works and publish them as they were actually performed. They split the plays more or less into scenes and fix a lot of errors that were included in the so-called Shakespeare editions that already existed. Then they decided to offer it as a folio, a bold decision as those were typically reserved for the classics and cost much more.
And from that beginning to the recent auction of a First Folio that went for 55 times its weight in gold, he traces the significance of the book, the creation of the Shakespeare mystique, and the huge cultural phenomenon that surrounds the author. Parts of this were funny, parts were completely unexpected, and all of it was entertaining reading. Maybe it's because I'm a bit of a fangirl myself, but I really enjoyed this book. Highly recommended.
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