海角大神

His work is a combination of 鈥淐SI鈥� and 鈥淎ntiques Roadshow.鈥� For two decades, Eric Rasmussen has traveled the globe to investigate and authenticate Shakespeare First Folios 鈥� the earliest printed compilations of the Bard鈥檚 plays 鈥� which celebrate their 400th anniversary this month. First Folios can command millions of dollars when one surfaces for sale.聽

Along the way, he has encountered bumbling book thieves, eccentric owners, quirky historical footnotes, and even a copy with a bullet hole through the middle (the slug stopped at 鈥淭itus Andronicus,鈥� proving that it鈥檚 鈥渁n impenetrable play,鈥� he says).

The folios were published in lavish fashion seven years after William Shakespeare鈥檚 death in 1616 and solidified his stardom. Without them, 18 works 鈥� including 鈥淢acbeth鈥� and 鈥淭he Taming of the Shrew鈥� 鈥� would have been lost, says Dr. Rasmussen, a professor of English at the University of Nevada, Reno. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the most iconic cultural artifacts in the world,鈥� he adds.

Dr. Rasmussen鈥檚 Shakespeare scholarship dates back to junior high, when he wrote a report comparing 鈥淭he Tempest鈥� to 鈥淕illigan鈥檚 Island.鈥� He learned literary forensics at the University of Chicago, from a professor who used an electron microscope to analyze typeface variations in early texts.聽

鈥淲e can reconstruct what happened in a printing house 400 years ago,鈥� Dr. Rasmussen says, including which typesetters produced which pages. Tradespeople also thought their inking equipment worked better if soaked in urine, which means their shops probably 鈥渟melled like a subway,鈥� he adds.

In 2004, he joined forces with Anthony James West, a British business executive who spent most of the 1990s 鈥� and much of his personal fortune 鈥� tracking down surviving First Folios. Building on a 1902 census that located 152 copies 鈥� from an estimated press run of 750 鈥� Dr. West鈥檚 legwork boosted the tally to 232. Then, at London鈥檚 legendary Reform Club, where novelist Jules Verne鈥檚 鈥淎round the World in Eighty Days鈥� got underway, he asked a research team led by Dr. Rasmussen to retrace his steps and thoroughly document the condition and provenance of each folio.

The seven-year project turned up a slew of oddities. Flipping through the volumes page by page (without gloves, which cause more damage than bare fingers, Dr. Rasmussen says), the folio detectives ran across food and wine stains, rusty silhouettes of scissors used as bookmarks, and margins scribbled with personal notes and math problems.

In one case, a cat left five paw prints on a folio opened to 鈥淟ove鈥檚 Labour鈥檚 Lost,鈥� Dr. Rasmussen says. Before the kitty could take a sixth step, it was apparently 鈥渟natched off the book,鈥� he adds.

Although some scholars prefer pristine copies, Dr. Rasmussen favors editions that reflect their owners, such as the University of Glasgow folio in which a preface that names the actors in Shakespeare鈥檚 troupe is scrawled with comments 鈥渂y someone who actually saw them perform.鈥澛�

Other owners have included dukes, bishops, oil barons, a female psychoanalyst who studied under Sigmund Freud, and an 18th-century astronomer with a namesake crater on the moon.

For some collectors, possessing a Shakespeare folio has proved hazardous to their health. 鈥淎 surprising number died within a year of getting their hands on one,鈥� Dr. Rasmussen says.

Today, most First Folios belong to museums, universities, or libraries. No two copies are alike, thanks largely to typographical errors that got fixed as the press run continued but still made it into print because the paper was expensive and flawed pages weren鈥檛 discarded.聽

In 2011, the idiosyncrasies and histories of each folio were chronicled in two books based on the research of Dr. West and Dr. Rasmussen鈥檚 team. The first, a 600,000-word reference, 鈥淭he Shakespeare First Folios: A Descriptive Catalogue,鈥� inventoried in 鈥渞etina-detaching detail鈥� (as one critic put it) every watermark, crease, tear, margin note, and more. It鈥檚 the literary equivalent of a fingerprint, Dr. Rasmussen says. The second book, 鈥淭he Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios,鈥� recounted stories for a nonacademic audience.聽

In recent years, three more First Folios have surfaced 鈥� along with a few false alarms 鈥� and Dr. Rasmussen commonly gets called to investigate.聽

鈥淗e is a trusted expert 鈥� by scholars, auction houses, libraries, and bibliophiles,鈥� says Emma Smith, a Shakespeare authority who has written two books on First Folios and authenticated one of the newly discovered copies. 鈥淣o one else I can think of has his credibility with these different groups.鈥�

Ayanna Thompson, director of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, agrees: 鈥淧rofessor Rasmussen鈥檚 work has been invaluable for our understanding of First Folios.鈥�

And wannabe First Folios.

Over the last century, news reports periodically swirled that a civil engineering college in Roorkee, India, had a copy 鈥� and the book鈥檚 dimensions were larger than any other First Folio. Yet no experts had managed to inspect the relic.

Finally, last year, after a new round of articles, Dr. Rasmussen hopped on a plane to settle the issue. Flower bouquets, gifts, and photographers greeted his arrival at the school鈥檚 Mahatma Gandhi Central Library, where he was whisked to a gallery that also houses a signed copy of India鈥檚 Constitution.

To his surprise, the folio was in tatters. 鈥淭he fragments reminded me of the Dead Sea Scrolls,鈥� he writes in 鈥淪hakespeare鈥檚 First Folio Revisited,鈥� a 400th-anniversary collection of essays. 鈥淚n a moment of romantic reverie, it seemed to me that surely only a survivor from the early 17th century, one that had long endured the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, would be found in such a state.鈥�

But alas, poor Yorick, when Dr. Rasmussen powered up his portable light box 鈥� a device normally used for viewing photo negatives and slides 鈥� and backlit each of the folio鈥檚 908 pages, he couldn鈥檛 find any of the 21 telltale original watermarks. The verdict wasn鈥檛 all bad for his hosts, however. Although Dr. Rasmussen concluded the volume was a 19th-century replica, he tagged it as one of the first created via photolithography. That鈥檚 rare too, he notes.聽

A book doesn鈥檛 have to be a First Folio to hold a silver lining.聽