The Treasures of William Shakespeare (RSC)

Author: Catherine M.S. Alexander

“Published in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and beautifully illustrated with contemporary images from Shakespeare’s time as well as photographs of RSC performances, this book explores the poet’s life and the enduring legacy of his work. It delves into the likely sources that inspired him to write such masterpieces as The Merchant of Venice, Othello and Macbeth and assesses the influences of subsequent generations of performers who have shown the “infinite variety” with which Shakespeare’s work can be adapted to all forms of media. The book is enhanced with 20 items of memorabilia, including Shakespeare’s marriage certificate and Will, an extract of the First Folio of 1623 and an extract from the prompt book for a production of Twelfth Night in 1965 directed by Sir John Gielgud.”

– Book Blurb

Shakespeare: Staging the World

Authors: Jonathan Bate and Dora Thornton

“Published to accompany a major exhibition at the British museum, which was part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad and the World Shakespeare festival.

This exhibition book links historical objects and works of art with Shakespeare’s texts to reveal how the playwright informed his audiences of the major events and political issues of the day: a sixteenth- century dagger fished from the Thames gives new significance to the gang violence of Romeo and Juliet; Henry V’s saddle, helm and shield recall the depiction of war in the history plays; Guy Fawkes’ lantern illustrates the failed gunpowder plot, later to prove the inspiration for Macbeth.”

– Book Blurb

Hamlet’s Dreams: The Robben Island Shakespeare

Author: David Schalkwyk

“Hamlet’s Dreams brings together the Robben Island Prison of Nelson Mandela and the prison that is Denmark for Shakespeare’s Hamlet. David Shalkwyk uses the circulation of the so-called ‘Robben Island Shakespeare’, a copy of the Alexander edition of the Complete Works that was secretly circulated, annotated and signed by a group of Robben Island political prisoner in the 1970s (including Nelson Mandela), to examine the representation and experience of imprisonment in South African prison memoirs and Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

The book looks at the ways in which oppressive spaces or circumstances restrict the ways in which personal identity can be formed or formulated in relation to others. The ‘bad dreams’ that keep Hamlet from considering himself the ‘king of infinite space’ are, it argues, the need for other people that becomes especially evident in situations of real or psychological imprisonment.”

– Book Blurb

30 Great Myths About Shakespeare

Authors: Laurie E. Maguire and Emma Smith

“Think you know Shakespeare? Think again . . .

Was a real skull used in the first performance of Hamlet? Were Shakespeare’s plays Elizabethan blockbusters? How much do we really know about the playwright’s life? And what of his notorious relationship with his wife? Exploring and exploding 30 popular myths about the great playwright, this illuminating new book evaluates all the evidence to show how historical material—or its absence—can be interpreted and misinterpreted, and what this reveals about our own personal investment in the stories we tell.”

– Book Blurb