"It is certain that, although much is known about Francis Bacon in some parts or phases of his chequered life, yet there is a great deal more which is obscure, or very inadequately treated by his biographers." "For instance, what was he doing or where was he travelling during certain unchronicled years? Why do we hear so little in modern books of that beloved brother Anthony, who was his 'comfort, ' and his 'second self'? And where was Anthony when he died? Where was he buried? And why are no particulars of his eventful life, his last illness, death, or burial recorded in ordinary books?" Francis Bacon (1561-1626): philosopher, playwright, poet, and conceiver of the scientific method for empirical inquiry. The staggering amount of publications in which he was involved and his demand for a worldwide reformation of learning, science, and religion have made him one of the most important minds of the Elizabethan era. As much as Bacon's public life influenced the world of science, there is an equal part of his life obscured by his secrecy. This book sets out to delve into these secrets in order to uncover the full extent of Bacon's work. His self-devised secret cipher, his apparent connections to the Rosicrucians and Freemasons, and the frequent gaps in his biography are thoroughly examined, making this a valuable addition to any Baconian collection.

This volume presents a study of the changing images and differing ways that the life of English poet and playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) has been interpreted throughout history. The author takes readers on a tour of the countless myths and legends which have arisen to explain the great dramatist's life and work, bringing the story right up to 1989. He reconstructs as much of the elusive author's life as possible, considering his family history, his economic standing, and his reputation with his peers; the Shakespeare who emerges may not always be the familiar one.

Official organ of the book trade of the United Kingdom.

For decades, media historians have heard of Harold Innis’s unpublished manuscript exploring the history of communications—but very few have had an opportunity to see it. In this volume, editors and Innis scholars William J. Buxton, Michael R. Cheney, and Paul Heyer make widely accessible, for the first time, three core chapters from the legendary Innis manuscript. Here, Innis (1894-1952) examines the development of paper and printing from antiquity in Asia through to 16th century Europe. He demonstrates how the paper/printing nexus intersected with a broad range of other phenomena, including administrative structures, geopolitics, militarism, public opinion, aesthetics, cultural diffusion, religion, education, reception, production processes, technology, labor relations, and commerce, as well as the lives of visionary figures. Buxton, Cheney, and Heyer knit the chapters into a cohesive narrative and help readers navigate Innis’s observations by summarizing the heavily detailed factual material that peppered the unpublished manuscript. They provide further context for Innis’s arguments by adding annotations, references, and pertinent citations to his other writings. The end result is both a testament to Innis’s status as a canonical figure in the study of communication and a surprisingly relevant contribution to how we might think about the current sea change in all aspects of social, cultural, political, and economic life stemming from the global shift to digital communication.