The eighth in an on-going, near thirty-year collaboration between Stratford wood engraver Gerard Brender — Brandis and the Porcupine's Quill that started in 1980 with the publication of Wood, Ink & Paper, which has sold almost 5000 copies in 28 years.

Twenty-four new engravings which depict all 27 musical instruments mentioned in Shakespeare.

A companion volume to A Gathering of Flowers from Shakespeare (PQL 2006).

A member of the Society of Wood Engravers (England), Gerard Brender — Brandis has produced hundreds of drawings, wood engravings and watercolours of flowering plants, many of which were studied in his own garden. These images have appeared in books, including Wood, Ink and Paper, At Water's Edge and Portraits of Flowers (all published by The Porcupine's Quill) as well as in his own handmade editions. His work is represented in the collections of the Royal Botanical Gardens (Hamilton, Ontario), the Missouri Botanic Garden, the Arnold Arboretum and the Hunt Botanical Library. His garden and his studio are located in Stratford, Ontario.

Gerard Brender à Brandis' profile page

F. David Hoeniger is professor emeritus from Victoria College, University of Toronto, where he taught for many years in the Department of English. He is also a former director of the university's Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies. Professor Hoeniger is the author and editor of numerous works on Shakespeare, his work and his times, including Medicine and Shakespeare in the English Renaissance (1992), and Science and the Arts in the Renaissance (edited with John W. Shirley, 1985). His editions of Shakespeare include the Arden Pericles (1963) and the Penguin version of King Henry the Eighth (1966). Professor Hoeniger lives in Toronto.

David Hoeniger's profile page

'As with all the works published by Porcupine's Quill, this book is itself a work of art, carefully printed on fine quality paper and bound by traditional methods. Even in paperback, this is a book to keep and treasure.'

Escarpment Views

'Gerard ... sees himself in the longer tradition of medieval scribes and Gutenberg, and most of his important connections are with artists and craftsmen of Europe and the past. His engraving is very much in the British tradition, with the feel of such engravers as Mackley, Robert Gibbings, Joan Hassall and Monica Poole.... In Gerard's case, being a book artist includes being able to do all aspects of the production himself. No other Canadian private press printer is able to combine typesetting and printing with wood engraving, papermaking, spinning, weaving and bookbinding. His lifestyle, which is spare and simple, imposes the onus of inventing and doing everything self sufficiently and provides the opportunity to explore his creativity as fully as possible.'

Multiples, the Journal of the Society of Wood Engravers