Shakespeare's Syndicate

Ben Higgins read English at the University of Exeter before going to the University of Oxford for postgraduate work. He has held lectureships at Wadham College, Lincoln College, and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He is currently Career Development Fellow in English Literature at Lady Margaret Hall.

• List of FiguresList of TablesList of AbbreviationsNote on Transcription and Citation ConventionsIntroductionPart 1: 'Printed by Isaac Jaggard, and Ed. Blount. 1623.'1: 'Master William Shakesperes workes': Edward Blount at the Black Bear2: 'Prudentia': The Jaggard Publishing HousePart 2: 'J. Smithweeke, and W. Aspley, 1623.'3: A Minor Shakespearean: William Aspley at the Parrot4: 'Under the Diall': John Smethwick at St Dunstan's ChurchyardEpilogueAppendix 1: The letters of Edward BlountAppendix 2: The publications of William and Isaac JaggardAppendix 3: The wholesale locations of Shakespeare's books, 1593-1640BibliographyIndex

Ben Higgins's Shakespeare's Syndicate is a hugely impressive study of the bookish world around the First Folio. Conceived as an extensive close reading of the book's title page, it takes the reader on a thrilling tour of the book trade that published, printed, marketed, and sold this most influential of volumes. Devoting a chapter each to Edward Blount, John Smethwick, William Aspley, and William and Isaac Jaggard, Higgins makes the case for these figures as 'merchants of belief', vital to the formation of the book's value, and the 'creation of [its] literariness'.