King Leir vs. King Lear

Upon walking into the Special Collections section of the library, I saw a few small, relatively old looking books. I wondered which of these clearly old, but relatively unimpressive books was the one I was looking for. Upon inquiring about The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland, I was pleased to see that it was so large and grand looking. I was not sure whether to begin with the first or second volume of the massive book in order to more easily find the passage about King Lear, but I figured the beginning was probably a very good place to start.

Upon opening the book, I was struck by the smell of the 400 year old pages. I was expecting the typical “old book smell,” however the smell I was anticipating usually goes along with books that are a century or less old, rather than four centuries. The smell I encountered was much stronger. Perhaps 300 years ago it smelled as I thought it would and it had simply grown exponentially more pungent. I was most surprised at how sturdy the pages were. They were not only much thicker than I’d anticipated, but they were in extraordinary condition. I’m sure a large, bound book like this would have been a relatively expensive luxury in 1587, despite the printing press’ use. It’s in such good condition that I can imagine it being bought as a status symbol. I can see it being part of one huge library collection, meant to fill shelves and impress rather than be read, which would explain the book’s remarkable condition.

The two large books seemed to be divided into volumes within each physical book. I could not find a table of contents, and each volume began with page one. I spent most of my times perusing through the second volume entitled “History of England” which came after the volume cal...

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... any children at all in Shakespeare’s version of the play. Rather than killing herself later as a result of imprisonment by the new dukes of Albanie and Cornwall, Shakespeare omits several years and her two nephews, and Cordelia still meets the same end, but at the hands of her own generation. Shakespeare’s King Lear takes the story told by Holinshed and adapts it to his needs to create a more thoroughly tragic story.

My visit to Special Collections was a valuable insight into the immense size and importance of a book such as Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Ireland and Scotland and how it may have affected Shakespeare’s play. The old book was extremely interesting and the history that it recounts serves as an inspiration for the further investigation of the legend of King Lear’s history and the story’s changes over time which I plan examine in my research paper.