If I had the time...

If I had the time I would read The Book of Will: How Shakespeare's first folio conquered the world, by Paul Collins. Ever since reading the literary thriller Interred with Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell, I have been fascinated by all things folio related. The first folio was the first book that contained all (well, almost all) of Shakespeare's plays. It was assembled by two of his closest friends and fellow actors from the Globe Theatre. Later folios were to follow but the first folio is considered to be the closest thing we'll ever have to what Shakespeare really wrote. The intervening centuries have not been kind to that first run of folios and those that still exist are each worth a fortune. To tell the story of the folio, Collins takes the reader on a tour of seemingly unimpressive locations throughout modern day London and then proceeds to deconstruct the now bus stop or chip shop back to the 1600's where there once stood a famous printer or bookstore. So, if I had the time, not only would I read The Book of Will, I would read it in London and follow the path of the famous folio that Collins has so meticulously mapped out. And when I needed a break from reading I would prowl around some old shops looking for an ancient, tattered old "promt book" for a play entitled Love's Labour's Wonne, for even though a folio sold recently at Sotheby's for 5 million dollars it's still not perfect. It's still missing that pesky little play...hmm. I wonder how much that would bring in at auction?