The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare: A Tale of Forgery and Folly

Stewart, Doug

ISBN 10: 0306818310 / ISBN 13: 9780306818318

Published by Da Capo Press, 2010

About this Item

First edition, first printing with full number line. A fine copy in a fine mylar protected DJ. See my photos of this book -- not a stock photo, this is the book you will receive. More photos available upon request. This book is in my possession and will ship wrapped in bubble wrap and shipped in a cardboard box. #155.

Seller Inventory # 007398

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare: A Tale of Forgery and Folly
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0306818310
• ISBN 13: 9780306818318
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

About this title

Synopsis

In the winter of 1795, a frustrated young writer named William Henry Ireland stood petrified in his father's study as two of England's most esteemed scholars interrogated him about a tattered piece of paper that he claimed to have found in an old trunk. It was a note from William Shakespeare. Or was it?
In the months that followed, Ireland produced a torrent of Shakespearean fabrications: letters, poetry, drawings—even an original full-length play that would be hailed as the Bard's lost masterpiece and staged at the Drury Lane Theatre. The documents were forensically implausible, but the people who inspected them ached to see first hand what had flowed from Shakespeare's quill. And so they did.
This dramatic and improbable story of Shakespeare's teenaged double takes us to eighteenth century London and brings us face-to-face with history's most audacious forger.

About the Author

Doug Stewart, a freelance journalist, frequently writes about history and the arts for Smithsonian magazine. His articles have also appeared in Time and Discover. He lives in Ipswich, Massachusetts. For more information, visit fakeshakespeare.com.