Paper / Ink
| Résumé |
This chapter combines close textual analysis with analytical
bibliography to explore what paper and ink—the primary materials
used to produce Shakespeare’s poems and plays in both manuscript
and print—can teach us about Shakespeare’s texts. Paper and ink
often take on metaphorical significance in Shakespeare’s works. For
example, Othello describes Desdemona as “fair paper,” asking if such
a “goodly book” was “made to write ‘whore’ upon.” Similarly, Leontes
of The Winter’s Tale deems Florizel’s mother faithful because she
accurately “print[ed]” his “Royal father off” when she conceived
him, thus punning on the paper size, “Royal,” whilst alluding to
commonplace links between printing and parenting. At the heart of
both examples are concerns over honesty, legitimacy and reliable
copying. It is perhaps ironic, then, that in recent years paper and ink have enabled researchers to expose seemingly “goodly,” legitimate print editions of Shakespeare’s texts as piracies and forgeries. The chapter will approach the relationship between paper, ink, and the Shakespearean text by adhering to textual allusions to paper and ink within his plays and poems; to traces of ink accidentally transferred between the paper of Shakespeare books once bound together; and to examples where the dates of Shakespeare editions are contradicted by watermarks hidden within the paper onto which they were printed. As I intend to demonstrate, these forms of invisible writing, these intersections of paper and ink, have the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the material forms in which Shakespeare’s texts first circulated. |
| Mots-clés |
Paper, Ink, Watermarks, Shakespeare, Gender, Race, Bibliography, Book History, Pavier Quartos, Print, Letters, Theatre, Stage, Props |
| Citation | Depledge, E. (2021). Paper / Ink. In Shakespeare / Text: Contemporary Readings in Textual Studies, Editing and Performance. (pp. 100-120). London: Arden, Bloomsbury. |
| Type | Chapitre de livre (Anglais) |
| Année | 2021 |
| Titre du livre | Shakespeare / Text: Contemporary Readings in Textual Studies, Editing and Performance |
| Editeur commercial | Arden, Bloomsbury (London) |
| Pages | 100-120 |
| Titre de la collection | The Arden Shakespeare Handbooks |
| URL | https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/shakespeare-text-9781350128... |