Keeping this in mind, it presents a great deal of knowledge in a compact and readable package. Sprinkled with humor and interesting historical tidbits, it never forgets the reader, or gets too "dry" or scholarly to enjoy.

Part 1 of the book presents a detailed look at the language of Shakespeare's time: its background and development, how it was used theatrically and in everyday speech. It concludes with sections on Names and Numbers, Measures, and Money.

In Part 2, The Bard's English takes a close look at how the language may have been spoken: accents, variances of pronunciation, grammar, and how that applies to the reenactor. This section winds up with "Hope for the Grammar-Impaired" and "Taking it to the Streets."

Part 3 concludes the book with a series of detailed vocabularies, totaling well over five hundred words, categorized for easy reference. This part also includes a special section on expletives and exclamations, a list of fifty useful phrases, a reverse phrasebook, a series of exercises, and an extensive bibliography.

If you'd like to sample it for yourself, you can click on the links below to view Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) files showing selected pages and sections. (Note that the samples given here were taken from an early printout formatted for standard typing paper, rather than the final 6" x 9" size. This means the page layout and numbering will be different from the softbound version you will get, and text may vary slightly.)

Table of Contents, background , theatrical English , Speaking the Speech , pronunciation , Vocabularies 1 , Vocabularies 2 , Expletives & Exclamations , and a page from the General Vocabulary.

Tim Barrett, proprietor of RenaissanceTreasures.com, says of this book: "I found The Bard's English to be an excellent source guide for experienced and new reenactors, both educational and practical at the same time... anyone and everyone serious about being a reenactor owes it to themselves to acquire this book."

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