Richard Day, A Booke of Christian prayers..., 1581 - Momento mori woodcut, p.89v, detail.

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Date:1581

Description:A possible source for the Capulet tomb.

The end of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet takes place in the Capulet family tomb where the apparently dead Juliet has been laid. Such places had a ghostly reputation, as Paris’s page implies when he is told to keep watch while his master goes to lay a wreath: ‘I am almost afraid to stand alone here in the churchyard.’ Romeo, as he moves the body of newly-slain Paris says: ‘Here lies Juliet, and here beauty makes this vault a feasting presence full of light. Death, lie thou there...' (5,3, lines 85-87).

Full title: Richard Day, A Booke of Christian Prayers collected out of the auncient writers and best learned in our tyme, worthy to be read with earnest mynde of all Christians in these daungerous and troublesome dayes', London, John Daye, 1581.


Timeline

The timeline shows resources around this location over a number of years.

1570s
Henri Estienne, A mervaylous discourse upon... Katherine de Medici…, 1575 - title page
Henri Estienne, A mervaylous discourse upon... Katherine de Medici…, 1575 - title page

Shakespeare may have owned this book. Shakespeare purchased New Place, the largest ...

1590s
Church of England, Booke of Common Prayer, 1596 - binding view
Church of England, Booke of Common Prayer, 1596 - binding view

A much-used book, possibly owned by Shakespeare. This prayer book, whose dimensions ...

1610s
William Shakespeare, Quartos, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1600 [1619] - Theseus goes hunting, p.F4v.
William Shakespeare, Quartos, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1600 [1619] - Theseus goes hunting, p.F4v.

Duke Theseus’ hounds in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Theseus’s ...

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Donor ref:SR 98 [25,674] (32/10434)

Source: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust - Library

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