The location of The Curtain Playhouse in Shoreditch, East London is a short walk from us at New North Press. It opened in 1577 and is considered to have been the birthplace of modern theatre. From 1597 to 1599 the playhouse was the base of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, William Shakespeare’s acting troupe, and many of The Bard’s famous plays are believed to have had their debut there, including Romeo and Juliet and Henry V.
So, when longtime friend of the press Nigel Bents proposed a print edition highlighting the huge influence that Shakespeare’s writing has had on everyday speech, it seemed fitting. The text that spotlit this impact so beautifully was by writer and broadcaster Bernard Levin and had originally been published in The Times in the 1970s, and again later in his 1983 book Enthusiasms*. It is essentially a list of quotes from Shakespeare’s writing cleverly linked by a narrative.
Nigel says:
Graham and I thought that letterpress would be a great vehicle to elevate Levin’s text. After working out a design that separated the journalist’s voice from the playwright’s quotations, we began work at New North Press, using a different font of metal type to distinguish each phrase. Setting type by hand is a slow business so this, in parallel with gaining the relevant permissions, took a while. But at last, with the legal stars aligned, we are delighted to officially offer the print for sale.
On Quoting Shakespeare letterpress edition
*NB: Originally the piece contained 58 phrases from Shakespeare, as well as one – but me no buts – misattributed by Levin. In fact it was from Susanna Centlivre’s The Busie Body (1709). This final phrase has been replaced in our version by another phrase: In the twinkling of an eye [as spoken by Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice (1596)].
