The Shakespeare Thefts In Search of the First Folios [Paperback]

Part literary detective story, part Shakespearean lore,The Shakespeare Theftswill charm the Bard's many fans.

The first edition of Shakespeare's collected works, theFirst Folio, published in 1623, is one of the most valuable books in the world and has historically proven to be an attractive target for thieves. Of the 160First Folioslisted in a census of 1902, 14 were subsequently stolen-and only two of these were ever recovered.

In his efforts to catalog all these preciousFirst Folios, renowned Shakespeare scholar Eric Rasmussen embarked on a riveting journey around the globe, involving run-ins with heavily tattooed criminal street gangs in Tokyo, bizarre visits with eccentric, reclusive billionaires, and intense battles of wills with secretive librarians. He explores the intrigue surrounding the Earl of Pembroke, arguably Shakespeare's boyfriend, to whom theFirst Foliois dedicated and whose personal copy is still missing. He investigates the uncanny sequence of events in which a wealthy East Coast couple drowned in a boating accident and the next week theirFirst Folioappeared for sale in Kansas. We hear aboutFoliosthat were censored, the pages ripped out of them, about a volume that was marked in red paint-or is it blood?-on every page; and of yet another that has a bullet lodged in its pages.

Eric Rasmussenis department chair and professor of English at the University of Nevada. He is co-editor of theRSC Complete Works of William Shakespeare,theNorton Anthology of English Renaissance Drama,and of the works of Christopher Marlowe in the OxfordWorld's Classicsseries as well as individual plays in theArden Shakespeareseries, theRevels Playsseries, and theMalone Societyseries. Since 1997, he has written the annual review of editions and textual studies forShakespeare Survey. He lives in Reno, Nevada.

Preface A Literary Detective StlŸ