This space is available for advertising
|
|
This space is available for advertising
|
|
Theatrical
Diary
|
|
|
|
The Complete Works of ShakespeareI've just bought a copy of the complete works of Shakespeare. Hardly earth-shattering news, you may say, but this is something special. I'm a bit of an antique collector. I love pewter and have some very nice pieces. They're not particularly valuable, but I like them. For instance, there's a 1790 lidded half-litre measuring jug from France. It's battered and has been repaired later - I don't think the solder on the base is that old! - but what pictures of its life your imagination can conjure up! One of my relaxations when I'm at the Edinburgh Fringe is to do the rounds of the city's antique shops, looking for items of interest. I found some this year, but that's another story. Anyway, I also go to antique fairs and there are a couple of regular exhibitors who keep an eye out for items that might interest me. One of them, Andy, phoned me recently and said he had a couple of things that he thought I would like. He would be at a fair in my area and would hang to them till I arrived. They were nice, and I bought them. As we chatted, Andy said, "You're a theatre man, aren't you? What do you think of this?" and he produced an illustrated Complete Works of Shakespeare. It was the Savoy edition (by Eyre and Spottiswood). There's no date, but someone has written some initials, the name Murray, and From each other! Xmas 1918 on the title page. It's bound in soft pigskin, with gold page edgings, with W and S intertwined and picked out in black and gold on the front. There are 28 coloured plates of paintings and nearly seventy black and white photographs featuring actors such as Tree, Garrick, Irving, Kemble, Forbes-Robertson, Craig, Ellen Terry and Mrs Patrick Campbell. It's an absolute joy! I told Andy I'd take it off his hands (!), so we haggled a bit over the price (one of the joys of antique-collecting is haggling: you know that the dealer is still going to make a good profit, but it makes you feel pleased if you knock a few quid off the asking price!) and I bought it. I don't read it, I just take it out and look at it occasionally, browsing through the pictures and - to be perfectly honest - simply admiring it! Even if it isn't worth what I paid for it - although I think it is - I still got a bargain, simply from the pleasure it gives me and from knowing that I own a tiny bit of theatrical history!
|
|
|