My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another fabulously fun read of one of my “books on books”. This one is an alphabetical encyclopedia of volumes sold at Sotheby’s around the turn of the 20th century. Each entry gives bibliographic information about the actual edition, its history and provenance and sometimes a pithy comment on the item. Books from the 15th century until the 19th are listed.

I learned some intriguing things, especially about Shakespeare. Some of the books sold were either read or referenced by Shakespeare when he was writing his plays. Others mention the bard or his theater, the Globe, including a map from a mid-17th century book that showed the location of the Globe before the Great Fire of 1666. Shakespeare may have drawn the character names of Rosencrantz and Guidenstern from the frontispiece of a book written by Tycho Brahe in 1602. The names were included in a list of Dutch nobles on that item.

I just love these types of books, because many of these items are gone or in private collections or university libraries. Through these entries, I can “visit” with them, at least for a short while and marvel at all that has come before.