Relic

This is a 1944 edition of Odhams The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Its value is purely sentimental, but with a slight twist. Several months ago some friends and I were discussing Shakespeare as I tried to decide between seeing A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Merchant of Venice at an upcoming outdoor festival. In the end I saw neither, that particular week was not going to bend to culture. Sadly. Shortly afterwards the grandmother (/in-law) of these friends passed away. While sorting her books they found this and thought of me. And so I have adopted it. My attachment to it isn't because I knew their grandmother, although as with all used books I love knowing a small part of its backstory. I'm not really sure what its value for me is, perhaps as a reminder of good friends I've made here, but it will be going with me onward from Norwich.

This evening I was trying to remember if Sonnet 116 is a separate sonnet worked into the excellent BBC ShakespeRetold version of Much Ado About Nothing, or is part of the original play. The pages fell open to this.

A few more words have just been written of this backstory.