Friday, May 13, 2011

A note about William Henry Ireland--a Regency hoax

Hello all-- Blogger was down yesterday and though my new post was saved and scheduled, it was lost. So my post on the aftermath of the Peace Celebrations of 1814 is somewhere in the ether. I don't have time to redo it in the next couple of days, so it will have to wait for next week.

I do apologize for the lack of a post, but I offer you a Regency name and a fascinating story for you to pursue about a remarkable hoax: William Henry Ireland 1775-1835

As author Doug Stewart, in his book "The Boy Who Would be Shakespeare" put it "William-Henry Ireland committed the greatest Shakespeare hoax ever--and fooled even himself into believing he was the bard's true literary heir".

Read about William-Henry Ireland here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Ireland
and at the Smithsonian magazine here
and in the book "Literary Hoaxes" by Melissa Katsoulis--an interesting little volume.


































'Til next time,
Blogger willing....

Lesley-Anne

P.S. Blogger has come through with the post I thought was lost--watch for it next Friday!

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