Leap Day Gallimaufry
"leap thou, attire and all," (Antony and Cleopatra, 4.8.16).
Happy leap day.
Item One.
If you haven't seen this one yet, there is a leap year (day) quiz at the Cincinnati Enquirer online which contains this question:
European countries gradually switched to the Gregorian calendar, which standardized our current Leap Year system. Because different calendars existed at one time, two famous authors have the same date of death, but didn't die on the same day. Who were they?
Sounds like a great Trivia stumper. (Hint: the answer involves, in part, our favorite author).
Item Two.
And speaking of Cervantes, he and Shakespeare intersect at the lost play Cardenio (if you don't count the odd short story by Anthony Burgess, "A Meeting in Valladolid," in The Devil's Mode). Lewis Theobald, the famous early editor of Shakespeare, much maligned in his own time but vindicated in our day, claimed to possess three manuscripts of the now lost play, which he used in his adaptation titled Double Falsehood, or The Distressed Lovers, based on the Cardenio and Lucinda story from the first English translation of Don Quixote (1612) by Thomas Shelton. Observers have thought it odd that if Theobald actually possessed these copies that he never incorporated the work in his editions of the plays. His production of Double Falsehood was produced in 1728 and his first edition of the plays in 1733. It is one of the disreputable rumours about Theobald that kept him for so long out of the charmed circle of Shakespearean demigods, so to speak, like Dr. Johnson or Edmond Malone.
Item 3.
I have been informed by Mark Abbott that I was maintaining a now defunct link to The Marlowe Society (UK) on the Mr. Shakespeare web site. No longer. The correct link to the Marlowe Society site is:
Item 4.
If you are in the DC area March 11, you may want to attend Acquisitions Night:
Guests can browse a display of available “adoptees”: more than 100 rare books, manuscripts and works of art added to the Folger collection during the past 12 months. Guests can examine these new additions in-depth; Folger curators and librarians are on-hand to answer questions.
Adopted items will receive a bookplate, identifying you or the person you wish to honor.
Item 5.
I recently reviewed World of Shakespeare: The Complete Plays and Sonnets of William Shakespeare (38 Volume Library) (Hardcover). General editors Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller, calling it the "bargain of the decade." At the time I did the review the price was $89.70 for the full, 38-volume hard-bound set. I purchased it myself and love it (though admittedly, I have a soft spot for the Pelican first edition). Now, unbelievably, the price has dropped. It is now selling for $59.80 for the full set, including free shipping. The list price, according to Amazon, is $299.00, and to tell true I wouldn't have complained if that had been the price I paid. I am very pleased with the set. Now, by my calculations, the cost of each hard-bound volume is $1.57. What? If this is a mistake, it indicates quick action. If not, how can they sell these volumes for this price? The paperback Pelicans are around $6.00 each!
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