shakespeare

Top 10 Luxurious Adventures of 2010 -- And How to Perfect 'Em in 2011

When people ask me for luxury travel advice, usually along the lines of "I want to plan a perfect trip to XYZ," I have two responses: a) there ain't no such thing as perfect in this world, no matter how much money you spend; and, b) you always know exactly how to make a trip as perfect as possible after you get home.

Still, the following trips I made in 2010 pleased me greatly, which is basically what I count as sublime perfection -- and should you plan to follow in my footsteps in 2011, note the tips I've added for making terrific travel even better.

Tags: australia, BedAndBreakfast, bestof2010, chicago, cruise, FrenchPolynesia, melbourne, montreal, Morocco, NovaScotia, ontario, PaulGauguin, PuertoRico, shakespeare, sonoma, tasmania

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Rare Book Could Set A Record For Most Expensive Book, Again

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art, Books

Deep-pocketed bibliophiles will have the chance to bid for the world's most expensive book this December. There are only around 100 copies of John James Audubon's massive "Birds of America." The book, which contains 435 hand-colored prints and is more than three feet tall, last sold for $8.8 million in 2000. Sotheby's estimates that the book of four volumes could reach 6 million pounds ($9.25 million) when it is auctioned off at Sotheby's London on December 7, 2010. The sale will also feature a first folio of Shakespeare's plays dating back to 1623 which could bring in at least one million pounds ($1.54 million). These two amazing books come from the same collection, the estate of the 2nd Baron Hesketh, an aristocratic book collector who died way back in 1955.

Tags: audubon, john james audubon, most expensive, rare books, shakespeare, worlds most expensive

Explore Stratford's Giant Costume Warehouse

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel, Luxury Travel & Hotels

If you loved to play dress up when you were a kid, or you still do, or you're a theater geek -- and let's face it, all of these categories often overlap -- do yourself a favor and sign up for a tour of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's Costume and Props Warehouse in Stratford, Ontario, Canada.

This is one of the largest costume warehouses in the world, housing more than 50,000 items worn during shows staged over the years in the annual festival, which runs through October. Nota bene, this is a guided tour -- you're not allowed to run willy nilly down the aisles marked "men's jackets, medieval" or "ladies' coats, 90s", nor are you allowed to rummage through a plastic box marked "glitzy ruffs".

You're also not allowed to touch the costumes, which is more of a serious challenge than you might think, although you are allowed to take pictures. After you tour the prop section (and learn that what stands in for blood on stage is a combination of beet root and cocoa powder -- good to know) you are released into a special area where -- yes! -- you may try on selected costumes to your heart's content. And there are hats. The number of images uploaded to Facebook over the course of a season from this part of the warehouse must be unfathomable.

Tags: costumes, shakespeare, Stratford, tours

The Classicist: Highland Living at Scotland's Storied Cawdor Castle

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Luxury Travel & Hotels, Spirits, Sports, Books, The Classicist

Cawdor Castle, one of Scotland's greatest estates which dates back to 1380, is the centerpiece of a beautiful new book focusing on the very best of Scottish style. Highland Living: Landscape, Style, and Traditions of Scotland (Flammarion, $39.95) by Stéphane Bern and Franck Ferrand with photographs by Guillaume de Laubier opens with a foreword by the castle's formidable mistress, Angelika, the Dowager Countess Cawdor (above). Born in Bohemia and raised in Africa, the exotic beauty was a fashion editor at Vogue and directed a marketing company in Paris before marrying the late Hugh, 6th Earl Cawdor and 24th Thane, and falling in love with the Scottish Highlands. In 30 years at Cawdor she has given new life to the legendary estate while preserving its historic heritage and way of Highland living.

At the heart of Scotland lies the legendary Cawdor Castle, best known for its literary connection to William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, the title character of which was made Thane of Cawdor. With its rich history, vibrant grounds and deep lochs, ancient, stony ruins, stewardship of revered traditions, and completely sustainable existence, the Cawdor estate, occupying over 49,000 acres, exemplifies the essence of the Highlands. Its magnificent interiors are filled with glorious antiques and handcrafted furniture, tartan accessories, hunting trophies and painted landscapes. Kilts and bagpipes, salmon and fly fishing, grouse shooting, hunting dogs, Land Rovers, shotguns and Barbour jackets, the shady realm of the Big Wood, thematic gardens, windswept moors, haggis and Scotch whisky are all part of life at the storied Castle.

Gallery: Highland Living at Cawdor

Tags: aristocrat, castle, Cawdor, Cawdor Castle, CawdorCastle, fishing, Highland, Hunting, Macbeth, Scotch, Scotland, Scottish castles, ScottishCastles, Shakespeare, sporting, tartan, UK, whisky

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Forget Popcorn at Movies, Try Oysters

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Even at the poshest of theaters, it's unheard of to be given shellfish.

Apparently, modern theaters are flouting tradition by expecting us to dine on a cheap triviality like popcorn. According to Reuters, Elizabethan theatergoers preferred oysters while they watched Shakespeare's canon take shape -- even the groudlings (those without proper seats who stood on the ground by the stage for a penny).

Oysters were reportedly most popular (and were probably the cheapest), and other "snacks" included crab and other shellfish like mussels, whelks, periwinkles, dried raisins and figs, hazelnuts, plums, cherries, peaches, baked blackberry and elderberry pies and sturgeon, "according to experts who excavated The Rose and The Globe theatres on the south bank of the River Thames."

"Oysters were in fact the staple diet of the poor, right up to the Victorian period, and certainly we find oyster shells by the thousand on nearly every archaeological site we do," senior Museum of London archaeologist Julian Bowsher who excavated the two theater sites told Reuters.

As someone who's paid just as much for popcorn at the movies as I've paid for a fine plate of oysters, I have to say, I think the Elizabethans had it better. You know, besides the way they smelled.

Tags: Elizabethan, Film, Globe Theatre, GlobeTheatre, Movies, Oysters, Popcorn, Shakespeare

$70 Million "Cultural Olympiad" Planned for London 2012

by Tracy Chait (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events, Art, Sports

In the buildup to London's hosting duties of the 2012 Olympics, the city's planners have created a "Cultural Olympiad" to generate buzz, highbrow British style. Twelve new public works of art are slated to open, the Royal Shakespeare Co. will produce a Shakespearean festival, a film competition will inspire the next wave of British filmmakers and Windsor Castle will be illuminated by a dazzling light show. The city plans to invest around $70 million in the project.

Lord Sebastian Coe, the chair of London's organizing committee for the 2012 Games, will even participate in Martin Creed's conceptual piece of moving sculpture currently on exhibit at the Tate, a piece featuring a runner sprinting across the museum galleries every 30 seconds, followed by an equivalent pause. The museum is calling it the "purest expression of human vitality."

The hope, organizers say, is to connect sports and the arts and provide a major injection of culture that will inspire young artists the way Michael Phelps makes you want to don a Speedo.

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Tags: cultural olympiad, CulturalOlympiad, london, lord coe, LordCoe, martin creed, MartinCreed, olympic games, OlympicGames, shakespeare, tate britain, TateBritain, windsor castle, WindsorCastle

The World of Rare Books: The Gutenberg Bible, First and Most Valuable

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

There are countless rare books in the world, but by most expert's standards the rarest of them all is the Gutenberg Bible. It was the first book ever printed back in 1456, and although several hundred copies were originally printed finding a complete first edition would net you $25-$35 million. In today's market single pages alone go for $25,000 each, and several years ago just 1 volume (it's a 2 volume set) sold for $5.5 million.

Besides the Gutenberg Bible other rare books include the first edition of Shakespeare's collected works from 1623 (worth $6 million), a collection of Leonardo da Vinci's manuscripts (potentially worth as much as $100 million), and of course any first edition copy of the Declaration of Independence (worth $8 million). Edgar Allen Poe's work also makes in onto the "rarest books" list with his first published poem ("Tamerlane") being rare and difficult to find due to a byline of simply "By A Bostonian." It's worth as much as $200,000 to the right buyer.

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Tags: Bible, book, books, Declaration of Independence, DeclarationOfIndependence, Edgar Allen Poe, EdgarAllenPoe, first edition, FirstEdition, Gutenberg, rare, rarest, Shakespeare, the rare, TheRare

The World of Rare Signatures and Autographs: William Shakespeare

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Think "autograph" and images of crowds of screaming fans mobbing celebrities comes to mind, or maybe a more organized event with people lining up in droves and the celebrity sitting behind a table. Either way the end result is the same: a lot of signatures leaving with a lot of satisfied fans. And that's great for all those people who now have a souvenir to cherish, but not so much for collectors. In order for a signature to be worth a lot in terms of money it has to be fairly rare.

He may have done a lot of writing, but with only 6 of them in existence William Shakespeare's signature is one of the rarest of all and is valued somewhere around $3 million dollars. And as far as present-day celebrities go it's a harder call to make, but this past year Will Ferrell topped the list of worst celebrity signers (which would, in theory, make his John Hancock just a little more rare).

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Tags: autograph, autographs, celebrity, ferrell, rare, rarest, shakespeare, signature, signatures, will ferrell, WillFerrell, william shakespeare, WilliamShakespeare

William Shakespeare's Signature Worth $3 Million

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Celebrity Shopping

Celebrities spend a lot of time signing autographs, but besides personal value the ones that really end up being worth lots of cold hard cash are the rarest ones. In today's day and age it's hard to get through a single day sometimes without signing for a credit card purchase or something else, but hundreds of years ago things were different. Even for somebody who spent most of his time with a quill in his hand.

For all the writing William Shakespeare did he apparently didn't sign his name very often. Today there are only six of the playwright's known authenticated signatures in existence, which helps make his John Hancock one of the most valuable in the world. One can be found on a conveyance for a house in London, one on a legal deposition, one on his mortgage documents, and three in his will. And any one of those is worth $3 million, seriously.

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Tags: autograph, autographed, famous, john hancock, JohnHancock, most expensive, MostExpensive, name, play, plays, playwright, rare, shakespeare, sign, signature, signed, william shakespeare, WilliamShakespeare, write, writer, writing

Shakespeare Limited Edition Pen

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Writing Instruments

The Shakespeare pen is the latest limited edition from Conway Stewart. The pen combines airbrushing and hand painting to show a scene from Romeo and Juliet on the barrel and the cap features the likeness of Shakespeare as shown in the engraving of him in the First Folio of Shakespeare works. The pen has a solid 18-carat gold nib available in a choice of eight grades, from Extra Fine to Extra Broad, Italic Fine, Italic Medium and Italic Broad and it uses a cartridge converter filling mechanism. There are 25 numbered pieces available in fountain pen or roller ball which sell for $2,450 each. Pretty, but the Romeo and Juliet look a bit old for teenage lovers in this version.

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Tags: conway stewart, ConwayStewart, fountain pen, shakespeare

Rare Shakespeare Work Sells for $5.2M

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

At a Sotheby's auction in London yesterday, a very rare First Folio of Shakespeare's works sold for £2.8 million (approx $5.2 million US). The book, which contains 36 complete plays including Julius Caesar and Twelfth Night, was printed in 1623 and was in mint condition. Some say that these works were saved by their inclusion in the volume and would otherwise have been lost. Today, there are less than 250 copies of the First Folio and the majority are incomplete or damaged. The book was purchased by Simon Finch Rare Books, a London-based book dealer, so it is likely that it will be on the market again in the future.

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Tags: auction, book, first folio, london, rare book, shakespeare, sotheby's

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