A history of the Bard's competitively pursued First Folio traces the author's travels from the site of a Sotheby auction to regions in Asia, throughout which he investigated the roles played by those who have sought and owned the Folios.

In this intimate Victorian life of the father of the detective story, Mr. Clarke uncovers and explores, with insight and sympathy, the private relationships of a fascinating writer. A literary coup...casts a fresh beam of light on the great, dark seam of Victorian sexual mores. —Observer

Excerpt from Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., R. A, Vol. 1: With Selections From His Journals and Correspondene The writer of such portions of the following pages as are not occupied by his father's diaries and cor respondence, has endeavoured to perform his task with delicacy and care, and hopes to have succeeded in presenting to the friends and lovers of Art, a faithful record of a life devoted, with an enthusiasm worthy of its object, to the attainment of excellence in a pursuit which is admitted, by common consent, to refine no less than to exalt the human heart. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.