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: