In the wide realm of Shakespeare worship, the house in Stratford-upon-Avon where William Shakespeare was born in 1564 - known colloquially as the 'Birthplace' - remains the chief shrine. It's not as romantic as Anne Hathaway's thatched cottage, it's not where he wrote any of his plays, and there's nothing inside the house that once belonged to Shakespeare himself. So why, for centuries, have people kept turning up on the doorstep? Richard Schoch answers that question by examining the history of the Birthplace and by exploring how its changing fortunes over four centuries perfectly mirror the changing attitudes toward Shakespeare himself.Based on original research in the archives of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon and the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, and featuring two black and white illustrated plate sections which draw on the wide array of material available at the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Victoria and Albert Museum, this book traces the history of Shakespeare's birthplace over four centuries. Beginning in the 1560s, when Shakespeare was born there, it ends in the 1890s, when the house was rescued from private purchase and turned into the Shakespeare monument that it remains today.

List of IllustrationsProloguePart I: Shakespeare and the World1. On the Right Hand of Avon2. To Be Wise in Building a House3. Epitome of the Whole World4. Household Stuff Part II: The World and Shakespeare5. Thy Stratford Monument6. Our Shakespeare's House7. A Marvellous Convenient Place8. Birth of the Birthplace9. Cottage of Humility10. This House for Sale11. Snatched from Quick Decay12. Restoring Shakespeare 13. W.S. Epilogue: 'Memorials of the Marvellous Man' Bibliographic Essay Acknowledgements Index