The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare: A Tale of Forgery and Folly

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The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare: A Tale of Forgery and Folly Pub. Date: 3/23/2010 Publisher: Da Capo Press

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Overview

In the winter of 1795, a frustrated young writer named William Henry Ireland stood petrified in his father’s study as two of England’s most esteemed scholars interrogated him about a tattered piece of paper that he claimed to have found in an old trunk. It was a note from William Shakespeare. Or was it?
In the months that followed, Ireland produced a torrent of Shakespearean fabrications: letters, poetry, drawings—even an original full-length play that would be hailed as the Bard’s lost masterpiece and staged at the Drury Lane Theatre. The documents were forensically implausible, but the people who inspected them ached to see first hand what had flowed from Shakespeare’s quill. And so they did.
This dramatic and improbable story of Shakespeare’s teenaged double takes us to eighteenth century London and brings us face-to-face with history’s most audacious forger.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

William Henry Ireland was an unassuming law clerk in Georgian England when he seemingly stumbled on the greatest literary find of his generation-a chest of documents in the home of an unnamed patron, full of Shakespeare's receipts, private letters, and a draft of an unpublished play. This find brought fame and notoriety to Ireland and his father, Samuel, a collector with a low opinion of his son. Soon, however, that fame turned to ignominy when it is was revealed that Ireland's Shakespearean trove was entirely fabricated; perhaps even more tragic was Samuel's unwillingness to believe his son had the talent to execute the forgery. Stewart's exhaustively researched examination of the Irelands' rise and fall is as entertaining as it is informative; modern readers, accustomed to Shakespeare's place of reverence, will be surprised to learn how ignorant Georgian England was of his work. Where Stewart's research truly shines is in accessing Ireland's human motivations-his desire for approval and artistic legitimacy, not profit, distinguishes him from other cons, making him neither wholly despicable nor pitiable. History and literary enthusiasts will be delighted with this smart investigation into a high-minded hoax.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Library Journal

In 1795, William-Henry Ireland, a 19-year-old lawyer's apprentice of no great promise, finally stumbled upon a way to gain approval from his father, Samuel. But even when the son provided the father with one of the most sought-after articles in all of England—a paper in the hand of William Shakespeare—the sire was unimpressed. William-Henry, an aspiring writer himself, then perpetrated one of the greatest literary hoaxes in history: If one sheet of paper could convince (but not please) his father, perhaps the man would be more satisfied with original drafts of Shakespearean plays? Or...an unpublished work? He never anticipated the fanatical public interest that grew when Samuel Ireland made his son's "discoveries" public. Finally, when Shakespeare's "newly discovered" play Vortigern was staged by the Drury Lane Theatre, William-Henry's fate was sealed and his name relegated to infamy. Even parts of his confessions are suspect, writes Stewart in this vivid dissection of the folly of human nature. VERDICT This is a great book club choice and an excellent selection for readers of literary thrillers, history, or social science.—Audrey Snowden, Cleveland P.L.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780306818318
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Publication date: 3/23/2010
Pages: 229
Sales rank: 1,233,586
Product dimensions: 5.60 (w) x 8.30 (h) x 1.10 (d)

Meet the Author

Doug Stewart frequently writes about history and the arts for Smithsonian magazine. A freelance journalist, his articles have also appeared in Time, Discover, and Reader’s Digest. He lives in Ipswich, Massachusetts.

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