Shakspere & Typography

Blades, William, 1824-1890Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 44K words
Chapters: 5

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Shakspere & Typography by William BladesAuthor: Blades, William, 1824-1890,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Sep 22, 2012

Editor's review

This book centers on the relationship between Shakespeare and typography, a cross-disciplinary topic at the intersection of textual bibliography and the material culture of literature. Its value lies in reminding readers that a text is not a "work" existing in a vacuum but a material product shaped by typesetting, collation, and printing. Blades's discussion draws attention to the influence of early printing practices on the textual appearance of Shakespeare's plays, making it suitable for readers interested in Shakespearean textual problems, book history, or printing history. As a public-domain e-book, it is easy to search for names, titles, and typographical terms, and can serve as supplementary material for topical reading. Note that the discussion rests on printing-history knowledge of a particular era, and some details may need to be checked against modern textual scholarship; the gains will be more solid if it is treated as an entry point into the materiality of Shakespeare's texts rather than as the final word.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Shakespeare enthusiasts who want to understand the printing and textual problems of Shakespeare's plays
Students and researchers in book history, printing history, or bibliography
English literature majors who need public-domain topical sources for supplementary reading
Interdisciplinary readers interested in textual materiality and textual variants

Not a good fit for

General readers who only want plot summaries or literary appreciation of Shakespeare's plays
Readers who find English difficult and need a Chinese guide to enter the topical discussion
Readers expecting a systematic printing-technology tutorial or operating manual

Reading tips

First acquire basic knowledge of Shakespeare's early printed editions, then move on to the book's topical discussion.
Note down the typographical terms and edition names mentioned as you read, and verify them together afterward.
Read alongside modern textual scholarship or an introduction to book history to judge which conclusions still need updating.
For specialized research, treat the book as an entry point and follow its notes and cited references to expand further.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book about Shakespeare's life?

No. According to the source materials, the book is titled Shakspere & Typography and discusses the relationship between Shakespeare and typography; it belongs to textual bibliography and book history, not biography. Readers should not expect life stories or plot appreciation, but should treat it as topical material for understanding the material formation of Shakespeare's texts.

Can I read it without a background in printing history?

You can try, but there is a threshold. The book involves early printing practices and typographical terms, and without background knowledge it is easy to read in a scattered way. It is advisable to first acquire some basic knowledge of book history or Shakespearean textual studies, then treat the book as a topical entry point; mark unfamiliar terms and verify them together afterward.

What use is this book to ordinary readers of Shakespeare?

It helps ordinary readers realize that the Shakespearean texts they read are not naturally fixed but are formed through typesetting, collation, and printing. Even without deep textual research, this awareness can sharpen sensitivity to textual variants, editorial choices, and edition information while reading, preventing any single edition from being taken as the only face of the text.

What materials should be paired with this book?

It can be paired with a general introduction to Shakespearean textual studies or book history to help establish basic concepts such as early printed editions, folios, and quartos. For research, modern bibliographical scholarship should also be consulted to verify details in the book. This is a public-domain English e-book; Chinese textbooks on related topics can also be prepared for comparison to reduce difficulty with terminology.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Blades, William, 1824-1890 Author · British · 1824–1890

William Blades (1824–1890) was a British historian of printing and bibliographer. Throughout his life he attended to the physical form of books and the evolution of printing techniques. His representative work Shakspere & Typography examines the textual and bibliographical problems of Shakespeare's works from the perspective of printing history, while The Enemies of Books discusses in a lively style the damage done to books by fire, water, insects, dust and human negligence, combining learning with readability and still being cited by readers in the fields of book collecting and book history. Two of his works are held in this collection. Public information about his education and detailed biography is limited, so this introduction is based mainly on the subjects and writing approaches of his surviving works, sketching his basic profile as a student of book history.