Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana. Part 1
William Shakespeare was a British poet and playwright and writer.
William's father, John Shakespeare, was a merchant and official in Stratford. There are reports that he was a sailor for a time before joining a theater company in London. Beginning in the 1590s, Shakespeare began writing plays, and in 1593 he published a poem, Venus and Adonis, which became popular. He dedicated it to the Duke of Southampton, who was a philanthropist and patron of talent, and soon his business was booming.
From 1592 to 1600 Shakespeare wrote his dramas and romantic comedies "Richard III", "The Taming of the Shrew", "Romeo and Juliet", "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "The Merchant of Venice", as well as the comedies "Much Ado About Nothing", "Twelfth Night" and the tragedy "Julius Caesar". The playwright's business was so successful that he even bought a large house in Stratford. In 1599, Shakespeare became one of the owners, playwright and actor of the new theater "Globe". In 1603 King James took Shakespeare's troupe under his direct patronage. In the mature period, the great playwright turned to tragedies, there were "Hamlet", "Othello", "King Lear", "Macbeth" and others.
Although in the 19th century researchers had some doubts about the authorship of many of these works, William Shakespeare is considered the greatest English playwright, one of the best playwrights in the world. His plays have been translated into all major languages and to this day form the basis of the world theatrical repertoire, most of them have been screened many times. According to the Guinness Book of Records, Shakespeare remains the world's best-selling playwright, and his plays and poems have sold more than 4 billion copies in the nearly 400 years since his death.
![[Austen, Jane] | An important association copy of Austen's most beloved novel](/assets/image/picture_2293413/84371/zji8imlhimjqvzy8e09qw6mafvxwb3zrlwkeqff7cb37gsdep3sdp2neocom7wx1658410838jpg__fix_374_244.jpeg)
![[Austen, Jane] | An important association copy of Austen's most beloved novel](https://veryimportantlot.com/assets/image/picture_2293413/84371/zji8imlhimjqvzy8e09qw6mafvxwb3zrlwkeqff7cb37gsdep3sdp2neocom7wx1658410838jpg__fix_374_244.jpeg)
![[Browning], Elizabeth B. Barrett | "...the first utterances of my individuality."](/assets/image/picture_2293417/c8929/cm8xm1dcllfzxm1-x7bncw3ozsqlbcj-xzbyfsnxsdnyvefuxm3geydiv0us1658410906jpg__fix_374_244.jpeg)
![[Browning], Elizabeth B. Barrett | "...the first utterances of my individuality."](https://veryimportantlot.com/assets/image/picture_2293417/c8929/cm8xm1dcllfzxm1-x7bncw3ozsqlbcj-xzbyfsnxsdnyvefuxm3geydiv0us1658410906jpg__fix_374_244.jpeg)
Charles Dickens, full name Charles John Huffam Dickens, is the most famous British writer of the Victorian era, a classic of world literature.
From childhood the future writer learned all the hardships of life in poverty: his father in prison for debts, hard work in a factory. Then service stenographer in court and reporter developed in him a strong attachment to journalism and contempt for both the law and parliament.
Dickens had many talents: in addition to literary work, he was an actor, published periodicals, arranged numerous literary readings, where he reveled in the admiration and love of the public. Fecund and versatile, Charles Dickens wrote many brilliant and often comic works. His novels cover a wide range of social, moral, emotional and other aspects. As a subtle psychologist, he is also very interested in the most ordinary people, but also the eccentric, the flawed, and even the insane.
Dickens was immensely popular around the world during his lifetime. His intellect, worldview, and deep reflections on society and its faults enriched his novels and made him one of the great figures of nineteenth-century literature, an influential spokesman for the conscience of his time.
Dickens' best-known and most popular novels are The Pickwick Club Posthumous Notes, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, Cold House, A Tale of Two Cities, Our Mutual Friend, Great Expectations, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for contributing to the understanding of evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental concept in science. In a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and he was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey.
![[Fitzgerald, F. Scott — The Great Gatsby] | “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”](/assets/image/picture_2293432/3547e/hxkdhtdma1gj3-b95slzgn5mblkefxbya3dqkznehomdaob5qs6svhlgj5ujt1658411173jpg__fix_374_244.jpeg)
![[Fitzgerald, F. Scott — The Great Gatsby] | “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”](https://veryimportantlot.com/assets/image/picture_2293432/3547e/hxkdhtdma1gj3-b95slzgn5mblkefxbya3dqkznehomdaob5qs6svhlgj5ujt1658411173jpg__fix_374_244.jpeg)
