Education: Case of a Vexatious Man

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At first glance, Book Dealer Alan Keen of Clifford's Inn, London, saw nothing particularly exciting about the old volume. It was simply one item from a new lot—a far-from-perfect 1550 copy of Edward Halle's Chronicle of England from Henry IV to Henry VIII. But when Alan Keen began to examine the book more closely that day in 1940, he found that some early reader had covered its margins with a most intriguing set of notations.

Last week Keen had scholars all over Britain arguing about those notations. After 14 years of work, he and Publisher Roger Lubbock of the London firm of Putnam had finally written a book called The Annotator, which might well be one of the most important literary detective stories in years. Not only does the book present strong evidence that the Annotator was Shakespeare, it also offers some tempting clues to an age-old mystery: Just what was Shakespeare up to during the obscure and later "hidden years" (1585-92) of his youth?

Notes & Echoes. From the experts at the British Museum, Keen first established that the notations could indeed have been written during Shakespeare's lifetime. Furthermore, they bore some resemblances to the few existing samples of Shakespeare's handwriting. But more important still was their content. It was obvious that the Annotator was collecting material for a project of his own.

He remarked on everything from the character of Richard II ("nota for flat-erye & wanton & voluptuose pleasure") to the "names of sondry pieces of armour." He was, like Shakespeare, intensely nationalistic ("note the kowardyce of the frenche men"), sympathetic to Catholicism ("here," he wrote alongside one of Halle's anti-Catholic outbursts, "he begynneth to rayle"), and above all else, interested in the turn of phrase. Time and time again, Keen found his echo in Shakespeare's historical plays. Samples:

¶ The Annotator: "He that wyll fraunce wynne with Scotland he must begynne." Henry V: "If that you will France win/ Then with Scotland first begin."

¶ Halle's statement, marked by the Annotator: "Henry borne at Monmouth shall small tyme reigne and muche get, & Henry born at Wyndsore shall long reigne and all lese . .." Henry VI: "Henry born at Monmouth shall win all/ And Henry born at Windsor lose all."

¶ The Annotator: "Prydde had a fall." Richard II: "Since pride must have a fall."

¶ Halle's Latin phrase, underlined by the Annotator: "In terram salicam mulieres ne succedant . . ." This is repeated in Henry V, as is the Chronicle's misprint "Elue" for Elbe.