What I'm reading today: The Book of William: How Shakespeare's First Folio Conquered the World by Paul Collins. A witty look at 2 of my (many) obsessions, Shakespeare and book collecting! Collins traces the history of the First Folio (and really the history of publishing in England) from Heminge and Condell through the huge book losses of the Great Fire, the glory days of the 18th century and rival Shakespeare editors (they really got down and dirty), the Victorian idea of Shakespeare, how big old Will is in Japan, to the present day (where a Folio sold at Sotheby's for over $5 million. Not, alas, to me). A great read. (The only quibble I had was the lack of endnotes and a proper bibliography--there was a lot I was curious about...)
Oh, and I'm over at Risky Regencies today celebrating the birthday of Elizabeth Gaskell, the woman who brought us North and South and thus Richard Armitage.
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