The Book of William: How Shakespeare’s First Folio Conquered the World Audiobook

Publisher Description

The first popular narrative history of Shakespeares First Folio, the worlds most obsessively pursued book One book above all others has transfixed connoisseurs for four centuriesa 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 Shakespeares 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 Williams travelogue follows the trail of the Folios curious rise: a dizzying Sothebys 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 Shakespeares cross-cultural future as Asian buyers enter their Folios into the electronic ether, and recounts the books remarkable journey as it is found in attics, gets lost in oceans and fires, is bought and sold, and ultimately becomes immortal. Download and start listening now! Collins has done it again. This historyspanning the globe and 400 years in the life and fortunes of one of the most famous books in the English languageis not the dry province of historians, bibliophiles, and antiquariansWitty, detailed, and highly entertaining, it will be appreciated by fans of Shakespeare, history, or human folly. Library Journal

Quotes

[A] lively and entertaining history of one of the most important books in English literature. New York Times Book Review Gleefully astonishingCollins 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. Its a supremely enlightening journey that Collins convivial manner makes thoroughly gratifying. Booklist Exemplary scholar-adventurer writing. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)