(Reevel Alderson’s article appeared 9/19, BBC Scotland.)
A rare edition of Shakespeare’s last play has been found in a Scottish Catholic college in Spain.
The Two Noble Kinsmen, written by Shakespeare with John Fletcher, was found by a researcher investigating the work of the Scots economist Adam Smith.
The 1634 printing could be the oldest Shakespearean work in the country.
In the 17th Century the seminary in Madrid was an important source of English literature for Spanish intellectuals.
The Two Noble Kinsmen was included in a volume made up of several English plays printed from 1630 to 1635.
Dr John Stone, of the University of Barcelona, said he found it among old books in the library of the Real Colegio de Escoceses – Royal Scots College (RSC) -which is now in Salamanca.
What is The Two Noble Kinsmen about?
“Friendship turns to rivalry in this study of the intoxication and strangeness of love,” is how the Royal Shakespeare Company described the play, which is based on Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale.
It was probably written around 1613-14 by Shakespeare and John Fletcher, one of the house playwrights in the Bard’s theatre company the King’s Men.
It was likely to have been Shakespeare’s last play before he retired to Stratford-on-Avon. He died there in 1616 at the age of 52.
Described as a “tragicomedy” the play features best friends, who are knights captured in a battle.
