Author(s): Abram Games

Shakespeare

In 1975 Abram Games, one of Britain's greatest graphic designers, was commissioned to make a fund-raising poster for the Royal Shakespeare Company. His solution was to become iconic: the face of Shakespeare built up from the titles of all the plays as they appear in the First Folio. After his death, his daughter Naomi discovered a mockup he had made of a flickbook. Now at last his project is coming to life. All 37 plays are included, in the same order as the First Folio of 1623, ending with Pericles, Prince of Tyre, added to the collection in the Third Folio of 1664. At the end, the playwright makes a graceful exit, marked by the poems and the lost or doubtful plays. The book is completed with some favorite quotations, and the date of each work. Naomi Games has written a brief introduction about the history of Games' image. Pallas Athene will also be producing, as Games originally intended, other products using his image: posters, t-shirts, mugs, tea-towels, jigsaws and more.