Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 01/17/2024 *Starred Review* After William Shakespeare’s death, in 1616, several friends and coworkers at the theater made the farsighted decision to collect their scripts, roles (rolls of paper recording a particular character's lines), and prompt books (including stage directions) into a folio—a large, unbound book offering Shakespeare’s plays in one volume—in order to preserve his work for future generations. This was a radical idea, yet Bausum states that without it, half the plays might not have survived for four centuries. She follows the manuscript through the printer who produced the folios and sold them at bookseller stalls in London, the fires that destroyed some of the folios, the individual names that scholars have given them (from the Golden Retriever Folio to the pungently scented Farting Folio) and the ongoing interest in the First Folio, “the most authentic and complete.” Whether explaining how the era’s printing presses worked or introducing the Folger Shakespeare Library, Bausum uses a fresh, reader-friendly tone, neither writing down to middle-school students nor expecting them to have prior knowledge of Shakespeare, his times, or his literary legacy. The many full-color illustrations include photos, paintings, and archival documents as well as attractive, stylized drawings of Shakespeare, his coworkers, and their surroundings. A beautiful, well-researched book exploring an intriguing subject. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.