The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 13.1451  Wednesday, 29 May 2002

[1]     From:   Gabriel Egan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Tuesday, 28 May 2002 15:52:21 +0100
        Subj:   Re: SHK 13.1425 Re: Money

[2]     From:   Nora Kreimer <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Tuesday, 28 May 2002 14:22:00 -0300
        Subj:   Re: SHK 13.1425 Re: Money


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Gabriel Egan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Tuesday, 28 May 2002 15:52:21 +0100
Subject: 13.1425 Re: Money
Comment:        Re: SHK 13.1425 Re: Money

Marcia Eppich-Harris wrote,

>I have heard that the FF [First Folio] would have cost around a
>pound, but I'm not sure of the accuracy of that figure, nor how
>much that would be in today's money.

Anthony James West "Sales and prices of Shakespeare First Folios: A
history, 1623 to the present" in _Papers of the Bibliographical Society
of America_ volume 92, 1998 (pp. 465-528) and volume 93, 1999 (pp.
74-142) addresses this.

To get a reliable scale of value, West measures F prices in terms of
loaves of bread. F was worth 44 loaves in 1623, and 900 by the 1790s. In
the 1850s it was worth 5000 loaves, and in eC20 96000 loaves. A loaf of
bread cost exactly 5.4 pence in 1623, and in 1751, and 1907 (peaking at
around 6.75 pence in 1850). Thus the F rise isn't inflation, it's
increase in relative desirability.

Another way of measuring F prices is to compare them to other luxury
items, and West choose a Purdey shotgun, Russian caviar, and a Jaguar
motor car.

Gabriel Egan

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Nora Kreimer <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Tuesday, 28 May 2002 14:22:00 -0300
Subject: 13.1425 Re: Money
Comment:        Re: SHK 13.1425 Re: Money

The Shakespeare First Folio: The History of the Book - Volume I: An
Account of the First Folio Based on its Sales and Prices

Anthony James West, Independent scholar

Price:      

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