Shakespeare’s Book: The Intertwined Lives Behind the First Folio

Shakespeare's Book: The Intertwined Lives Behind the First Folio is a 2023 book by Dr Chris Laoutaris that charts the manufacture of the First Folio against a turbulent backdrop of political events and international tensions. It uncovers the friendships, bonds, social ties, and professional networks that facilitated its production, as well as the personal challenges, tragedies, and dangers that threatened its completion. It also considers how Shakespeare himself 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.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 560 pages
Publication date: 14 March 2024
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

‘A vibrant portrayal of numerous operators frantically striving to gain an early advantage over their competitors . . . Lavishly detailed
FINANCIAL TIMES
‘This is Shakespearean scholarship at its finest, brilliantly researched yet compulsively readable. It's a book for our times, enduringly fascinating and appealing to both enthusiasts and the general reader. Highly recommended! ALISON WEIR
FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE SUMMER
A BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
A BBC RADIO 4 FRONT ROW NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
AN AUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
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 labor 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 Shakespeares 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,.

Weight: 508g
Dimension: 129 x 198 x 45 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780008238414