Description:
Four years before the publication of the First Folio, a group of London printers and booksellers attempted to produce a collected works of William Shakespeare as a series of quarto pamphlets. Zachary Lesser examines more than three hundred surviving copies of these Pavier Quartos, revealing they are far more mysterious than we thought.
Review Quotes: "This book is a perfect illustration of what Lesser sees as the humanism of historically informed bibliography. Lesser's book is also a compelling counter to the now prevalent idea that the reproduction of early modern books online, from the almost comprehensive Early English Books Online (EEBO) series through to the growing number of scans of Shakespeare quartos and folios, will circumvent the need to examine multiple individual copies of these books. The kind of close look required for this type of study necessitates the individual examination of dozens, if not hundreds, of examples, though this is also an enterprise requiring collaboration with rare book librarians and archivists. Ghosts, Holes, Rips and Scrapes is a model for this increasingly important work; it is a pleasure to read, and the appropriately high production values for the book, which is copiously illustrated in colour, enhance that pleasure."-- "Parergon"