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Shakespeare's Books and Readers

Shakespeare's Books and Readers cover

Shakespeare's Books and Readers

Quantity
Pre-order. Available May 13 2027
$23.35 RRP $25.95 Website price saving $2.60 (10%)

Payment for this pre-order will be taken when the item becomes available

Description

This accessible introduction to the culture of books in Shakespeare's time guides readers through the fascinating life cycles of Shakespeare's plays and poems as they first appeared in printed form. In four concise chapters on the production, consumption, circulation and destruction of early modern English texts, Jeffrey Todd Knight shows how the emergent practices of publishing and the changing expectations of readers affected not just the look and feel of Shakespeare's works but also their meanings.

Topics explored include the inner workings of the early printing houses, the differences between quarto and folio texts, design elements of page layout, typography and bookbinding, the formation of literary markets and a reading public, relations between the playhouses, publishers and authors, and cultural responses to the new technology of the printing press. In the midst of new digital technologies now transforming Shakespeare study and reception, Shakespeare's Books and Readers provides detailed historical grounding in the foundational texts through which all Shakespeare is accessed today.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Shakespeare's Books and Texts

1. Pamphlets and Graver Labours: Printing, Binding, Packaging
2. 'From the table of my memory': Reading, Marking, Using
3. Adventurers in Setting Forth: Selling, Sharing, Circulating
4. 'I'll drown my book': Discarding, Destroying, Disowning

Conclusion: 'The Shakespeare is Saved'

Bibliography

Index

Product details

The Arden Shakespeare
Published May 13 2027
Format Paperback
Edition 1st
Pages 256
ISBN 9781350156807
Imprint The Arden Shakespeare
Illustrations 16 b/w illus
Dimensions 9 x 5 inches
Series Arden Shakespeare Insights
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

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