Shakespeare's Library

More about the book

• From acclaimed author and ardent bibliophile Stuart Kells comes an exploration of the quest to find the personal library of the world’s most famous author • The whereabouts of Shakespeare’s library—his personal collection of manuscripts, books, letters and miscellaneous papers—is a mystery that continues to compel and inspire bibliophiles around the world • In Shakespeare’s Library, Kells follows the long line of bibliomaniacs who have tried, with mixed success, to trace Shakespeare’s library over centuries, creating a narrative as compelling as the best mystery fiction • Stuart Kells’s style is wonderfully erudite yet accessible, and he fills his books with charming anecdotes and historical detail about his bookish finds • Kells is a Melbourne-based authority on antiquarian books. His previous book The Library: A Catalogue of Wonders, published by Text in 2017, is a love letter to libraries both real and fictional, praised by Jane Sullivan in the Sydney Morning Herald as ‘a sprightly cabinet of bookish curiosities’ • Kells has also previously published a critically acclaimed biography of antiquarian bookseller Kay Craddock, Rare, and a history of Penguin Books, Penguin and the Lane Brothers, which won the 2016 Ashurst Australian Business Literature Prize