Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Bawdy face of the Bard’s London - Times Online

Bawdy face of the Bard’s London - Times Online

A long-neglected document started this writer off on his latest piece of literary detective work

The story begins with a sheet of greyish paper, housed unceremoniously with others in a cardboard box at the National Archives in Kew. Though slightly mouldered at one edge, it is in remarkably good condition after nearly four centuries. It is mostly filled with the handwriting of an unknown Jacobean law clerk, but what makes it special is the rather hurried-looking signature at the bottom: “Willm Shaks”.

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