Tuesday, April 22, 2014

We Got Shakespeare's Personal Dictionary on eBay

Booksellers: We Got Shakespeare's Personal Dictionary on eBay: Now, two New York City booksellers say they have found one of those books. And it's not just any guide: This is William Shakespeare’s dictionary, owned and annotated by the man himself.

4 comments:

Deb said...

I did not read the article, but wasn't the first dictionary published by Dr. Johnson many years after Shakespeare lived? What does this "dictionary " have in the margin: "What rhymes with 'summers day'?"

Unknown said...

It's an interesting article. There were dictionaries before Dr. Johnson. Handwriting experts aren't so sure this was really Shakespeare's copy, but there's some fairly interesting analysis of why it very well could be.

Deb said...

I did finally go back and read the article (today being Shakespeare's birthday an' all) and it was interesting--and I loved the linked article from the Folger Library about handwriting analysis and marginalia. I think the two men who claim this is Shakespeare's dictionary have a book to sell and want to recoup their $4,300 eBay expense and thus their claims should be treated with caution. Worse, I'm now rethinking my entire education since I discovered Dr. Johnson did not publish the first dictionary.

Unknown said...

This is one of those "I want to believe" articles. As Jake Barnes says at the end of THE SUN ALSO RISES, "Isn't it pretty to think so."