This exquisitely illustrated edition of Bill Bryson's best-selling biography of William Shakespeare takes the reader on an enthralling guide through Elizabethan England and the eccentricities of Shakespearean scholarship. Bill Bryson's Shakespeare pairs our most celebrated writer in history with one of the most cherished writers in the English language today. In this elegant new illustrated edition, the superstitions, academic discoveries and myths surrounding the life of our greatest poet and playwright are evoked through a series of full-colour paintings, drawings, portraits, documents and photographs. Bryson also includes the recent discoveries of the Cobbe portrait and the remains of Shakespeare's first theatre in Shoreditch. Examining centuries of myths, half-truths and downright lies, Bryson — with his inimitable wit and intelligence — has attempted to make sense of the man behind the masterpieces. In a journey through the streets of Shakespeare's time, he brings to life the hubbub of Elizabethan England and a host of characters along the way. Bryson celebrates the glory of Shakespeare's language — his ceaseless inventiveness gave us hundreds of now indispensable phrases, images and words — and delights in details of his fall-outs and folios, poetry and plays.