ABSTRACT
Episodes related to books or scenes of reading and writing in drama contemporaneous with Shakespeare's are certainly such social reflections. At least three of Shakespeare's early plays carry titlepages similarly designed with great care. He must have seen them at a shop-front and had his interest aroused as much as his readers did. Northumberland in King Henry IV, Part 2, a play probably written in 1596–67, is the first in Shakespeare to talk of the titlepage. Shakespeare sometimes more cunningly controlled his better-educated audience's interest in books. Unmistakable theatrical reflections of the people's general interest in reading and writing can be observed also in Shakespeare's later plays. Shakespeare who wrote his first play in about 1589 may be said to be a playwright who began his professional career after the general enthusiasm for literacy had begun to be reflected on the stage.
