Seeking Shakespeare

Now I don’t know why I decided to put my Complete Works of William Shakespeare into my non-fiction and work-related etc books book shelf in my study instead of in the kinda-highbrow-authors-alphabetically-by-last-name shelf in the living room, but let me tell you, upon not discovering Shakespeare where I thought he ought to be I spent a little while contemplating whether one actually needed to source Shakespeare quotes precisely, or whether or not simply stating that “All the perfumes of Arabia…” was from Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1 and uttered by Lady Macbeth without giving a precise edition and page number might be enough. Where does common knowledge start, and where does it end? How much does academic writing take brain sludge into account?

Yes, yes, facetious and pointless ponderings, I know … I was going to leave the rought source in and to get a copy of Shakespeare from the library at work tomorrow, when I thought to check my non-fiction shelf. And lo and behold, there it was, right between The Oxford Book of English Short Stories and Passionate Minds. (Yes, the sorting system makes sense – to me. If it would to anyone else – who knows… . [Umberto Eco – shelved in three places. But, *shhh*, it works!] [Mostly.]).

In case anyone wonders, the framed piece of paper on the right hand side is a sheet from an old print of the Codex Iustitianus ad vetustorum Exemplarum Recognitus (Code of Justinian, According to the Ancient Authorities).

And now I go source my Shakespeare quote properly.