Richard Day, A Booke of Christian prayers..., 1581 - infant woodcut detail, p.100v.

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Date:1581

Description:Infant mortality: Shakespeare's older sisters died young.

William's two older sisters both died in infancy. For Elizabethans the death of a child was a common occurrence. William's younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard and Edmund, all grew to adulthood, but predeceased William. Their sister Anne died aged 8, and their sister Joan outlived them all.

The motto below death about to stab a baby in its cradle reads:
The Infant.
Lo, this little heart
I strike with my dart.

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
William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis, 1594, leaf F4v.
William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis, 1594, leaf F4v.

Shakespeare’s first published works. The long poem, Venus and Adonis, was ...

1610s
George Tuberville, The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting, 1611 -  A royal picnic, p.91.
George Tuberville, The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting, 1611 - A royal picnic, p.91.

A picnic for Shakespeare's royal patron. Among the many engravings of huntsmen ...

1630s
William Shakespeare, Quartos, Love's Labour's Lost, 1631 - title page
William Shakespeare, Quartos, Love's Labour's Lost, 1631 - title page

A play for the Blackfriars Theatre: Shakespeare's Love’s Labour’s Lost. The ...

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Donor ref:SR 98 [25,674] (32/10615)

Source: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust - Library

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