Adam Hooks' Journal
June 29
Travel from New York to London; London to Stratford.
June 30
Visit to Warwick Castle, a medieval castle near Stratford. The castle was once the home of Fulke Greville, a contemporary of Shakespeare. The remodeled interior, largely Victorian, contains several portraits of Shakespeare’s contemporaries, including Greville and Sir Philip Sidney. Visit to St. Mary’s church, Warwick, which contains the tomb of the Earl of Leicester, a favorite of Queen Elizabeth who at one point nearly married her.
July 1
Visit to Shakespeare properties: Hall’s Croft, home of Shakespeare’s daughter and her husband, a well-known and respected doctor. The house includes an herbal garden and exhibits on early modern medicine. Visit to Nash’s House, including the “Shakespeare: The Complete Works” exhibition, which included a facsimile of the First Folio annotated by John Keats. The house is next door to the site of New Place, the house Shakespeare bought once he became financially successful; the house was torn down by a subsequent owner. Visit to Holy Trinity Church, site of Shakespeare’s grave.
July 2
Orientation at the Shakespeare Centre Library; meetings with Paul Edmondson, Roger Pringle, and Stanley Wells; tour of the Reading Room; tour of the Rare Book vault, with Marian Pringle; Orientation at the Shakespeare Institute Library.
July 3
Research at Shakespeare Institute: Richard Field, printer of Shakespeare’s two narrative poems, and a native of Stratford. Consulted 19th century journals edited by John Payne Collier, finding that Collier was the first to recognize that Field was from Stratford, and hence to make the connection that the two poems may have been authorized by Shakespeare.
July 4
Research at Shakespeare Centre and Records Office: inventory of Henry Field, father of Richard. The inventory was conducted by three men, one of whom is listed as “John Shakespeare,” the name of Shakespeare’s father. This may refer to Shakespeare’s father, despite the fact that another John Shakespeare, unrelated, lived down the street from the Fields. This primary research contributes to my first chapter, which questions the received wisdom regarding Shakespeare’s connection to Field. Lunchtime lecture by Roger Pringle, “Americans in Stratford,” including a mention of the sculpture garden created by Greg Wyatt.
July 5
Research at Shakespeare Institute: ballads and Titus Andronicus. My first chapter compares the publication of Titus, by John Danter, to the two poems. Danter also published a ballad of Titus, and I collated a later edition of the ballad with a transcription of the same ballad found in a manuscript and published in the early 20th century. Performance of Macbeth at the Swan Theatre.
July 6
Research at Shakespeare Institute: John Danter, printer of Titus. Continued research on Danter, including his publication of an early edition of Romeo and Juliet; found that Danter published a translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses by consulting the STC, opening up a way to contrast the context of Titus to the two Ovidian narrative poems. Performance of Ionesco’s Macbett at the Swan Theatre.
July 7
Visit to Kenilworth Castle, a medieval castle (now in ruins) that was once the home of John of Gaunt (a figure who appears in Richard II), and which was given to the Earl of Leicester by Queen Elizabeth. The castle served as the site of Queen Elizabeth’s famous visit in 1575, in which Leicester attempted to convince her to marry him. The gatehouse includes original woodwork; some of the woodwork was removed during the English Civil War and taken to Warwick Castle.
July 8
Visit to Anne Hathaway’s cottage, the home of Shakespeare’s wife. The house includes period furnishings. The grounds also include a sculpture garden, with which Greg Wyatt is associated. Visit to Stratford Guild Chapel, which includes the remnants of a wall painting that was ordered to be whitewashed in order to comply with Reformation ideology; the whitewashing was overseen by John Shakespeare in his role as a town official. Visit to Shakespeare’s Birthplace.
July 9
Research at Shakespeare Institute: Francis Meres and the Bodenham printed commonplace books. Meres references Shakespeare, along with several other contemporary writers; he pays particular attention to the two narrative poems, for which Shakespeare was then primarily known. Consulted several secondary sources. This work will eventually form a section of my first chapter which considers contemporary reactions to Shakespeare as a poet. Performance of Richard II at the Courtyard Theatre.
July 10
Research at Shakespeare Institute: printed commonplace books and Francis Meres. Consulted facsimiles of Meres’s book, along with 19th and early 20th century editions of several other printed commonplace books that were created by John Bodenham, and conceived as a series. The books quote from contemporary poets and playwrights, but group the quotes under subject headings, effectively mining poetry for sententious sayings. These editions are somewhat rare, and the Institute possesses a full collection.
July 11
Research at Shakespeare Institute: Meres, Bodenham, and Anthony Munday (playwright and editor of commonplace books). Utilized online resources to search copies of 19th century journals, finding a hitherto unknown reference to a connection between Meres and Munday. This definitively demonstrates that Meres’s book was intended as a part of the series (a fact that has been debated over the years).
July 12
Research at Shakespeare Institute: England’s Parnassus, printed commonplace book featuring Shakespeare. Consulted a facsimile edition, began to organize notes in order to integrate this research into the first chapter. Visit to sculpture garden created by Greg Wyatt.
July 13
Research at Shakespeare Institute: consulted several rare reference books that detail the career of Richard Field; continued research on Bodenham miscellanies by consulting books on Michael Drayton. Bodenham’s books were printed by Nicholas Ling, who also printed several books of poetry by Drayton – and apparently Ling had access to manuscript poems that were used in Bodenham’s books, thus widening the circle responsible for the books. There is a possible connection here, since Ling also printed an early edition of Hamlet which, along with one of the poems (Lucrece) was often mined for sententious sayings.
July 14
Research at Shakespeare Institute: John Danter’s publication record. Consulted the Stationers’ Register records in the library in order to continue research on Danter in order to contextualize his publications of Shakespeare.
July 15
Research at Shakespeare Institute: organized research results for Francis Meres and his associates; found that the scope of the results is beyond what is necessary for the first chapter, and so constructed an outline for a longer, stand-alone piece which will be submitted for publication in a journal.
July 16
Research at Records Office: Edward Pudsey, manuscript commonplace book featuring Shakespeare quotes. Pudsey quoted from Shakespeare and several other contemporary playwrights, using the quotes to fill out certain sections of sententious sayings, as in the printed commonplace books. However, Pudsey’s book contained many other sections, most of which do not include plays; the leaves in the Records Office -- which contain the references to Shakespeare – have been separated from the remainder of the manuscript, which is in Oxford.
July 17
Research at Records Office: Pudsey; consulted the letters of Richard Savage, 19th c. librarian at the Birthplace who first discovered the Pudsey manuscript, in order to find out how the leaves were separated. It appears that the leaves may simply have been lost by Savage, whose work habits were somewhat chaotic. This information does not belong in the chapter – but laid out a secondary research plan, in order to possibly publish these findings, which have been hitherto unknown. Consulted letters of Charles Crawford, editor of England’s Parnassus, in order to complete research on the printed commonplace books. performance of 1 Henry IV at Courtyard Theatre.
July 18
Research at Records Office: diary of Richard Savage. Transcribed diary entries that relate to the discovery of the Pudsey book; also entries that relate to Savage’s work on an edition of the Shakespeare quotes. The Institute owns a copy of this book, which is rare.
July 19
Research at Shakespeare Institute: John Danter: completed research on the Stationers’ Register records, including nearly 80 entries for ballads which do not survive. Danter’s heavy involvement with popular ballads may account for the reception of Titus, a work that is patently Ovidian (as the narrative poems), but was received very differently (as “low,” not as “high” literature). This research is directly relevant to the main thesis of the first chapter.
July 20
Travel from Stratford to London.
July 21
Research at British Library: edition of commonplace book Belvedere annotated by Charles Crawford. Belvedere was one of the Bodenham series; while an annotated edition has never been published, Crawford annotated a facsimile edition, and so this copy is invaluable for a full accounting of the book.
July 22
Visit to National Portrait Gallery, including portraits of Shakespeare’s contemporaries.
July 23
Research at British Library: Gabriel Harvey’s marginalia. Gabriel Harvey discussed Shakespeare among several other contemporary poets, in a short essay written into his copy of Chaucer’s works. He mentions Lucrece and Venus and Adonis by name, stating that Lucrece is sententious – an assertion borne out by the poems appearance in printed commonplace book – but deriding Venus. This is important information that will form the basis for a section of the first chapter, and which will be expanded into a conference paper at the Renaissance Society of America conference next spring, at which I have been invited to discuss this research at a panel on commonplacing.
July 24
Visit to Bodleian Library, Oxford University: research on publisher catalogues. I carried out key research for a later chapter by examining unique copies of several catalogues of booksellers. While at the Bodleian, I also examined a unique copy of the ballad of Titus, the earliest extant version known.
July 25
Research at British Library: manuscripts from Richard Field’s printing house. I examined the manuscript of John Harington’s edition of Orlando Furioso, showing close interaction between the printer and the author. While this is suggestive, it may be idiosyncratic – unlike Shakespeare, Harington was a high-level courtier who took an unusually close interest in the publication of his works. The Harington material currently forms a small section in the first chapter, and this research enables me to complete that section.
July 26
Research at British Library: manuscripts from Richard Field’s printing house. Consulted Harington’s manuscript for Metamorphosis of Ajax, a manuscript that, unlike Orlando, is barely known and hardly discussed by critics. Found further evidence of close collaboration between the printer and the author, perhaps implying that specific typographical features of Shakespeare’s poems must have been present in the manuscript. These features – including quote marks in the margin – would not have been made by the author, and so may prove that Shakespeare was not in fact heavily involved in the production of his poems, contrary to the received wisdom – an important fact for the first chapter.
July 27
Travel from London to New York.