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The Book of William
- Author
- Paul Collins
- Narrator
- Tim Getman
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date
- 27 September 2022
- Run Time
- 6 hours 43 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
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 Sotheby’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.
Critics Review
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“Exemplary scholar-adventurer writing.”
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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“[A] lively and entertaining history of one of the most important books in English literature.”
New York Times Book Review
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“Gleefully astonishing…Collins provides one of the most enjoyable examples of a most enjoyable genre, the book biography, as he tells the stories of individual Shakespeare first folios, their owners, their uses, and their travels. It’s a supremely enlightening journey that Collins’ convivial manner makes thoroughly gratifying.”
Booklist
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“Collins has done it again. This history—spanning the globe and 400 years in the life and fortunes of one of the most famous books in the English language—is not the dry province of historians, bibliophiles, and antiquarians…Witty, detailed, and highly entertaining, it will be appreciated by fans of Shakespeare, history, or human folly.”
Library Journal
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Paul Collins
- Narrator
- Tim Getman
- Duration
- 6 hours 43 minutes
- Release Date
- 27 September 2022
- ISBN
- 9798200991143
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Genre
- Classic and pre-20th century plays, Literary studies: plays and playwrights, European history
Synopsis
The first popular narrative history of Shakespeare’s First Folio, the world’s most obsessively pursued bookOne 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 Sotheby’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.
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