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January 31, 2006: The Trials of 19th Century Bibliophilia
"At the Grolier Club last week, Texas A&M University professor Steven Escar Smith spoke about two New York theatrical figures, Williams Evan Burton and Edwin Forrest, who both collected Shakespeare. During the early 19th century, serious American bibliophiles collected Shakespeare more prominently than any other author, Mr. Smith said. The bard was iconic: P.T. Barnum, he said, even tried to buy Shakespeare's family home in 1847 and bring it to America."
