Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, 1603 - p.1, Theseus.
Theseus is first in North's study of the Greeks as read by Shakespeare.
The first story in North’s translation of Plutarch is of the Greek king Theseus whose marriage to Hippolyta, Queen of the ...
Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, 1603 - title page, printer's device
A printer’s ornament known to Shakespeare.
Each Elizabethan printer used a personal ‘device’ on the title page of his work. Richard Field, the printer who came from Stratford, used ...
Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, 1603 - title page.
Shakespeare’s source for stories of Greece and Rome.
Shakespeare’s contemporary, the lawyer and scholar Sir Thomas North (?1535 - 1601) translated the biographies of fifty Greek and Roman ...
Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, 1612 - Antony and Cleopatra, p. 922, detail.
Shakespeare followed this description of Cleopatra.
Shakespeare became very familiar with Plutarch’s stories, and he often followed the wording of sections in North’s translation very ...
Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, 1612 - Coriolanus's mother, Volumnia, detail, p.238.
Shakespeare's source for Coriolanus's mother, Volumnia.
On this page from Plutarch’s ‘Life of Coriolanus’, Volumnia, Patrician mother of Coriolanus, agrees to go with Virgilia, his ...
Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, 1612 - dedication detail, p. A3r.
The translator's dedication of a Shakespeare edition repeated in a later edition.
In his dedication to Queen Elizabeth, Sir Thomas North recognized her especial interest in the classics. He called ...
Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, 1612 - ornamental headpiece above dedication, p. A3r, detail.
The translator's dedication to Shakespeare's queen.
Above the translator’s dedication the printer, Richard Field, placed a decorative woodcut with a central figure playing the lute, as the Queen ...
Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, 1612 - title page.
A favourite book of William Shakespeare, printed by a fellow Stratfordian.
North’s translation of Plutarch’s Lives was first printed by Thomas Vautrollier in 1579. The book's success led ...
Plutarch, The lives of the noble Grecians and Romaines, London, Richard Field, 1612 - dedication, p. A3r.
Shakespeare’s queen has books of history dedicated to her.
Sir Thomas North, a lawyer, whose father had been an MP and privy councillor to Henry VIII and to Mary Tudor, dedicated his translation ...
Poetry Book
A paper-back book containing poetry and pictures. It has a grey cover and red printing and was given to Edith Westray in 1895.
Practical Dissertation on the Waters of Leamington Spa
This is a third edition paper back book from 1831 contained within a box. The book includes a history of the springs at Leamington Spa.
Publius Ovidius Naso [Ovid], The XV bookes Metamorphosis, translated... by Arthur Golding..., 1603, title-page.
A School text studied by Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare knew this series of stories about miraculous transformations, written by the Roman poet Ovid well as they formed an important part of regular ...
Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles , London for George Bishop, 1577, - Elizabethan men at a meeting, woodcut, page 119, detail.
John Shakespeare, an alderman of Stratford.
When William Shakespeare's father, John, a glove-maker by trade, attended aldermen's meetings in Stratford-upon-Avon in the 1560s and 1570s, the council ...
Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1577 - 'History of England', p.46.
Shakespeare's source for England's mythical history.
The woodcut illustrations of the first edition of Holinshed’s work depicting scenes of battle and warfare are in contemporary dress, with ...
Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1577 - 'History of Scotland', title page.
Shakespeare’s ‘Scottish’ play is founded in history.
Holinshed’s first edition of The Chronicles, in 1577 included 'The Historie of Scotland' in which Shakespeare found the ...
Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1577 - harvest woodcut, 'History of Scotland', p. 232.
A harvest scene, from a book known to Shakespeare.
Shakespeare’s parents both came from farming families so he knew well that everyone in country districts would help with cutting and sheaving ...
Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1577 - Kings Cymbeline and Guiderius, 'History of England' p.47.
Shakespeare's source for Cymbeline.
Besides the story of Guiderius, which was based on myth and legend, Shakespeare found, in the 'Chronicles of Scotland', a tale of a nobleman and his two sons fighting ...
Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1577 - Macbeth and Banquo, woodcut, 'History of Scotland', p.243, detail.
Shakespeare's source for Macbeth's meeting with the weird sisters.
This woodcut, from Holinshed's first edition of 'The Chronicles of Scotland' shows the meeting of Macbeth and Banquo with the three ...