• Next message: Hardy M. Cook: "CFP: The Eighth Annual British Graduate Shakespeare"
• Previous message: Hardy M. Cook: "no country for old men?"
• Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ]

The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 17.0157  Monday, 13 March 2006

From: 		Al Magary <al@magary.com>
Date: 		Sunday, 12 Mar 2006 01:46:18 -0800
Subject: 	4,000 Ways to Spell Shakespeare

Browsing among the many titles Google has been scanning in the libraries 
of Stanford, Michigan, Harvard, NYPL, and the Bodleian 
(http://books.google.com), I came across a pamphlet by George Wise, /The 
Autograph of William Shakespeare: With Fac Similes of His Signature as 
Appended to Various Legal Documents.../ (Philadelphia:  Peter E. Abel, 
1869): 
http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=OCLC06529844&id=zDuGM2kukMYC&num=100&dq=date:1475-1922&lpg=PA1&pg=PP9 
(or http://tinyurl.com/oeyp8)

While adopting the now-standard spelling himself, on the authority of 
"Mr. Howard Staunton, of Mr. Dyce, of Mr. Halliwell, of Mr. Collier, and 
of Messrs. Singer and Lloyd, as well as the editors of the Cambridge 
Shakespeare", Wise  counts 37 ways to spell Shakespeare among legal and 
genealogical records (p.15).  Perhaps the pamphlet was not long enough, 
for he then embarks on the most curious venture to list some 4,000 ways 
to spell Shakespeare "according to English orthography" (pp. 17-32). 
This is something to behold.

Cheers,
Al Magary

_______________________________________________________________
S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List
Hardy M. Cook, editor@shaksper.net
The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net>

DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the 
opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the 
editor assumes no responsibility for them.

• Next message: Hardy M. Cook: "CFP: The Eighth Annual British Graduate Shakespeare"
• Previous message: Hardy M. Cook: "no country for old men?"
• Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ]