Books about Shakespeare (in the context of the town)

The Private Life of William Shakespeare

Lena Cowen Orlin

Oxford University Press, 2021, 430pp

Tells the story of Shakespeare in Stratford as a family man, and reconsiders clusters of evidence that have been held to prove some persistent biographical fables

Shakespeare & Stratford

Katherine Scheil (ed)

Berghahn, 2019, 115pp

As the site of literary pilgrimage since the eighteenth century, the home of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the topic of hundreds of imaginary portrayals, Stratford is ripe for analysis, both in terms of its factual existence and its fictional afterlife. The essays in this volume consider the various manifestations of the physical and metaphorical town.

What Blest Genius?  The Jubilee that made Shakespeare

Andrew McConnell Stott

W. W. Norton, New York, 2019, 249pp

The story of the Jubilee in honour of Shakespeare, told from the dual perspectives of David Garrick, who masterminded the event, and James Boswell, who attended it. Recounting the absurd and chaotic glory of those three days, the tale is rich with humour, gossip and theatrical intrigue.

Skulduggery!  How Shakespeare's skull was stolen and found

Ronnie Mulryne and Mairi Macdonald

Friends of Shakespeare's Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, 2016, 52pp

A rattling good yarn from an anonymous pamphlet of 1894, with corrections and annotations. A digital version of the complete booklet is available through open access, i.e. for free download.

Shakespeare's Money

Robert Bearman

Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2016, 196pp

How much did he make and what did this mean? Analysis based on surviving evidence

The Shakespeare Circle

Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells (editors)

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2015, 358pp

Casts fresh light on Shakespeare by examining the lives of his relatives, friends, fellow-actors, collaborators and patrons

Shakespeare's Shrine

Julia Thomas

University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012, 218pp

Shakespeare found!  A life portrait at last

Stanley Wells (editor)

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, 2009, 118pp

Summerfolk - A celebration

Stanley Wells (editor)

Long Barn Books, Ebrington, Glos, 1997, 194pp

Essays celebrating Shakespeare and the Stratford Theatres, to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Summer School. Contributors include Cicely Berry, Michael Billington, Kenneth Branagh, Jane Lapotaire, Trevor Nunn, Richard Pasco, Donald Sinden and Guy Woolfenden.

In Honour of Shakespeare

Levi Fox

Jarrold and Sons, Norwich,1972, 128pp

The history and collections of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT) by its distinguished and long-serving Director