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May 19, 2015

The Sonnets were published late in Shakespeare’s career (1609) — by a clever and unscrupulous man.

His name was Thomas Thorpe. He ran what was for the times a unique publishing business,
playing games with “copyright” that were often unconscionable but, usually, this side of the law. He owned neither a printing press, nor a bookstall — two things that defined contemporary booksellers — subcontracting everything in his slippery way. Indeed, I would go beyond other observers, and describe him as a blackguard; and I think Will Shakespeare would agree with me. Though Shakespeare would add, “A witty and diverting blackguard.” Dark gentleman of the Sonnets : Essays in Idleness

Posted by gerardvanderleun at May 19, 2015 6:16 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

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