Shakespeare Reference in Magic For Everyone

While I was visiting my parents in Massachusetts, I went through some boxes and found a hardcover book from the 1920s on magic tricks. So I read it. And, as seems to be the case with nearly every book I read these days, it contains a Shakespeare reference. It is a reference to Hamlet's advice to the players. Author Hereward Carrington writes, "Suiting the action to the word, the conjuror rubs his forefingers together, and requests the name of the first chosen card" (p. 32). Carrington makes the same reference later in the book: "Suiting the action to the word, the magician advances his two forefingers, until they almost touch the eyes of the onlooker" (p. 114). Hamlet tells the players, "Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action."

Magic For Everyone was published in 1920. The hardcover copy I read is, I believe, from 1927.

Shakespeare Reference in Space Station Seventh Grade

I was in Massachusetts, visiting my family, and going through a few things. I found my hardcover copy of Space Station Seventh Grade, a book I read when I was eleven or twelve. I had already finished the book I had brought with me, so decided to re-read this one. And, yes, it contains a Shakespeare reference. In a chapter taking place at Christmas, author Jerry Spinelli writes: "Ham liked his book. Burbage: Greatest Shakespearean Actor" (p. 123).

Space Station Seventh Grade was published in 1982. My hardcover copy was in perfect condition until I lent it to a classmate, who really screwed up the cover, as you can see in the photo, and bent several of the pages. That was the first and final time I lent anyone a book I cared about.

Shakespeare Reference in The Strange Case Of Hellish Nell

Shakespeare references continue to pop up in nearly every book I read. Nina Shandler's The Strange Case Of Hellish Nell tells the true story of a woman who was tried for witchcraft in England during World War II. And it contains a reference to Shakespeare. Shandler writes, "A man of letters, Alfred Dodd was famous - or notorious, depending on one's viewpoint - for proposing the controversial theory that William Shakespeare had signed his name to works actually written by Francis Bacon" (p. 167). (Actually, it was a woman named Delia Bacon, a woman who ended up in an insane asylum, who first proposed this ridiculous theory.) This is the note at the back of the book related to that line: "Alfred Dodd, The Secret Shakespeare (London: Rider, 1941)" (p. 260). That book is mentioned in the bibliography as well.

The Strange Case Of Hellish Nell was published in 2006. The copy I read was an advance reading copy.