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The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 14.2462  Friday, 2 January 2004

[1]     From:   Hardy M. Cook <editor@shaksper.net>
        Date:   Friday, January 02, 2004
        Subj:   Re: SHK 14.2456 "Pericles manuscript"?

[2]     From:   Bill Arnold <barnold_pb@yahoo.com>
        Date:   Thursday, 1 Jan 2004 07:00:51 -0800 (PST)
        Subj:   Re: SHK 14.2456 "Pericles manuscript"?


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Hardy M. Cook <editor@shaksper.net>
Date:           Friday, January 02, 2004
Subject: 14.2456 "Pericles manuscript"?
Comment:        Re: SHK 14.2456 "Pericles manuscript"?

Out of curiosity and to see if I could shed any more light on this
thread, I did a little searching yesterday and found a few bits to share.

The so-called "Pericles manuscript" has been discussed on ExLibris, the
Electronic News and Discussion Group for Those Interested in Rare Books,
Manuscripts, Special Collections, and Librarianship in Special
Collections. The thread can be found in the December 2003 Subject Thread
Index:

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/2003/12/threads.html#00190

On December 24, 2003, Don Lindgren of Jan Van Der Donk - Rare Books,
Inc., wrote,

<Quotation>
The "manuscript" was, if I remember correctly, a 2nd printing of the
third folio, Pericles section, disbound. It was being offered by
"Eldras" who should be well known to many on this list. The listing was
incredibly entertaining, as are many of Eldras' listings. I had the item
on my watch list, again for entertainment, but this morning I find that
it is no longer listed, and doesn't show up under any of the various
searched I tried. Two nights ago the bidding was up to 80K pounds, but I
can't confirm bids beyond that.

I highly recommend viewing Eldras' listings for anyone interested in the
underbelly of eBay.
</Quotation>

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/2003/12/msg00190.html

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Bill Arnold <barnold_pb@yahoo.com>
Date:           Thursday, 1 Jan 2004 07:00:51 -0800 (PST)
Subject: 14.2456 "Pericles manuscript"?
Comment:        Re: SHK 14.2456 "Pericles manuscript"?

Thomas Larque writes, "I see that the Scotsman (another British
newspaper, published in Scotland) also carried the £5 million Pericles
story in an online round-up of brief items (I think alongside something
about Princess Anne's dog killing the Queen's corgi), although their
story now seems to have disappeared, so maybe they have realised that it
is a hoax...As far as I can work out, the Sun site which carried the
story is real too.  On a note mainly for Hardy, I see that one of my
references to "the Sun" (the name of a newspaper)...."

OK: as a former American tabloid stringer, writer and reporter for the
*National Enquirer*, I would like to make a brief comment about tabloids
and hoaxes.  As far as I can tell, never having been in England, but
having worked with some Brits from the tabbies over there who migrated
here for the bigger $$$ bucks--wonder of wonders what $$$ bucks does for
the work ethic!--the English *Sun* is a tabbie.  But I digress, and will
restrict my remark to hoaxes and American tabbies.  Check out the masthead.

OK: *not* all tabbies are the same.  When I worked at the *National
Enquirer* we had a research team and stories were scrupulously
researched as at any mainstream newspaper.  I can only assert that and
you'll have to take my word for it.  I doubt some of you will, but c'est
la vie!  The *Globe* was one notch down in terms of respect.  Wedged
between those two, in America, there was the *Star* which originated out
of New York, moved to Boca Raton, Florida, and has now moved back north.
  In any event, the *Star* focused on celebrity news and was in a
ballpark all its own.  The other tabbies in America, such as the *World
Weekly News*, actually have a *disclaimer* in the masthead that *some
stories are fictional*!  Yeah, right.  Well, folks, in the tabbie
business, it is the confusion of the public who pick up these rags in
Publix which causes the continuing confusion.  Trust me on this.  Not
all tabbies are the same.  You heard it here, first.

OK: in conclusion, read the mastheads of newspapers, magazines and
tabbies.  Note that when the *National Examiner* [not to be confused
with the *National Enquirer*] writes of love songs emanating from a
crater on Mars sung by Elvis that such a hoax or bogus story is
*intentionally fictional* to sell rags!  Same for the *World Weekly
News*!  I am sure that Merry Ole London, the fabled birthplace of the
tabbie, has tongue-in-cheek rogue editors enough to hoax SHAKSPEReans
until the cows come home and all the boy meet at the pub and have a good
laugh over a nightly brew, or two, or three--or four, or more!  As a
case in point, on the literary side: get a copy of Englishman Evelyn
Waugh's masterpiece *Scoop* and enjoy the mad-cap antics of English boys
beyond their teens at play in the journalism trenches.  Frustrated
bards: *all* of them!

Bill Arnold
http://www.cwru.edu/affil/edis/scholars/arnold.htm

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Hardy M. Cook, editor@shaksper.net
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