Curiosa: Shakespeare happens

[nebroadwe]

Sometimes I find it difficult to do my job, as when, in a drowsy mid-afternoon slump, I scan the columns of William Jaggard's Shakespeare Bibliography in search of a citation that matches the characteristics of the object in front of me (the edges of whose pages are gently disintegrating into jaundiced dust as I breathe upon them), and find myself increasingly prone to misreading Mr. Jaggard's -- let us say, unfortunate? -- yes, unfortunate choice of abbreviation for the name "Shakespeare":

Sh--

As in, Our English Sh--. And The Lover's Sh--. And A Poem; with an Ode to Sh--. And First Annual Jubilee Oration Upon Sh--. And the oft-cited Sh-- Works. I keep reminding myself that Jaggard is cataloging Shakespeare's works, not Swift's, but it's not doing any good ...