Shakespeare On The Record

Shakespeare on Record is a unique guide to major Shakespeare discoveries and the archival insight that made them possible. With contributions from experts at The National Archives, the Folger Shakespeare Library and leading universities, the book explores and explains the bureaucratic processes and governmental practices that shaped life and records in Renaissance England – making it a key resource for both Shakespeare scholars and researchers of early modern lives. Chapters examine key documents concerning property, the law, coats of arms and investments, which relate to Shakespeare's lives in both Stratford and London. Several of The National Archives' collection of over 120 documents which illuminate Shakespeare's life are profiled here for the first time. Richly illustrated throughout, this is a key resource for both Shakespeare scholars and researchers of early modern lives.

"The present work furnishes chapters on Shakespeare's stationers (with the Register entries) and Shakespeare forgeries. Along with other Shakespeare signatures--authentic, spurious, or in varing degrees questionable--and the three pages of Sir Thomas More in hand D, the Archaionomia item finds a place in a chapter on Shakespeare's handwriting."--page xi.

This handsomely illustrated biography provides a dramatic, human view of Shakespeare as he lived his life. Narrative and pictures follow Shakespeare from his birth and boyhood in Stratford, through his career in the London theatre, and back to Stratford during the last years of his life, in retirement. Included in the 114 illustrations—many of them taken from sixteenth- and seventeenth-century originals—are two authentic portraits of Shakespeare. Pictures of the houses in which he lived, the theatres in which he acted, the other actors with whom he worked, and the faces of many people who knew him and wrote about him—all add a sense of immediacy to the biographical narrative and make Shakespeare come alive within the context of his own age. Originally published in 1967. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

"The life of William Shakespeare has, for over three hundred years, been the subject of intense speculation. The starting-point for any attempt to piece together a reliable picture of the man must be a close examination of those rare documents written during Shakespeare's lifetime that mention him by name. Just over seventy-five such documents survive and, of these, thirty-one are to be found in Shakespeare's native town of Stratford, in the care of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. For the first time this book, written by the Trust's Senior Archivist, offers a thorough and detailed analysis of these documents describing why and how they were written and what they tell us about the times in which Shakespeare lived." Back Cover.