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Giovanni Boccaccio, The Modell of witt [Decameron Book 1], 1625 - title page, p.A2r.

Italian stories provide source material Giovanni Boccaccio is known chiefly for Decameron, which was written in 1353. This is a collection of a hundred tales told by ten people who have taken refuge ...

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

Shakespeare may have owned this book. Shakespeare purchased New Place, the largest house in the town of Stratford in 1597. On his death the property and most of its contents were inherited by his ...

Henri Estienne, A mervaylous discourse upon... Katherine de Medici, 1575 - inside frontboard

Thomas Phillipps' ownership of a book Shakespeare may have owned. The great nineteenth century collector of manuscripts and books, Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), marked his books MHC for his ‘Middle ...

Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619 Map of the Americas - whole map, hand-coloured.

The Americas in the reign of James I, Shakespeare’s patron. Courtiers of James I were familiar with travelers returning from the new found lands of North and South America, including Sir Walter ...

Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail, a galleon and a flying fish, off the coast of Brazil.

Many of Shakespeare's contemporaries sailed to America. English ships were famed for their ease of manoeuvrability and sea-worthiness, on which sailors and explorers depended as they travelled to America ...

Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail including British Isles

Shakespeare’s England, on the edge of a world to be explored. Maps of the known world were becoming more widely available to Shakespeare's contemporaries. Maps often use Latin, then an international ...

Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail of northern part of South America

Guiana, in South America was explored by men known to Shakespeare. The Spanish ‘conquistadors’ who explored and sought to colonise the Amazon valley followed tales of a golden wealth beyond ...

Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail, creature off the coast of California. [Probably a diving whale's tail]

The ocean : a place of danger for Shakespeare’s contemporaries. Ships returning to England after travel around the world with Francis Drake, or across the Atlantic with Walter Raleigh, brought ...

Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail, exotic bird and fish.

Stories of strange birds and beasts were brought back to Shakespeare’s London. In Shakespeare's The Tempest Trinculo, finding 'the monstrous' Caliban on the beach speculates on how an Englishman ...

Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail, Florida and the east coast.

Virginia became England’s colony in Shakespeare’s time. Virginia, named for England’s virgin queen, Elizabeth, was established in 1584 by Walter Raleigh, and Jamestown was settled ...

Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail, Flying fish (a real species) and an unidentified creature.

Sea monsters were legendary for Shakespeare's contemporaries. In The Tempest (2,2, lines 24-40) Trinculo imagines he has found a sea-monster when he discovers Caliban hiding from the approaching storm ...

Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail, The Pacific Ocean and Solomon Islands, showing a galleon and a sea creature, probably a whale.

Ships from Shakespeare’s England explored the world. The sailing vessels that traded up the river Thames to London and set off from the English Channel, or from West country ports, were familiar ...

Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail, The southern Carribean including Trinidad, also a galleon.

Ships from Shakespeare’s London sailed to the Caribbean. As English settlements were established in the Americas pamphlets describing their experiences were published in London. The slave trade ...

John Fletcher and William Shakespeare, The Two Noble Kinsmen, [London], 1634 - p. 18, D1v

A Shakespeare collaboration. The Two Noble Kinsmen includes pageantry in the 'masque' style that Shakespeare introduced to his late 'romance' plays like The Tempest and Pericles, and has scenes reminiscent ...

John Fletcher and William Shakespeare, The Two Noble Kinsmen, [London], 1634 - p.19, D2r.

Shakespeare writes of Palamon and Arcite in prison. The story of the Theban princes Palamon and Arcite is that told by the Knight in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. From their prison window the princes ...

John Fletcher and William Shakespeare, The Two Noble Kinsmen, [London], 1634 - title page

Shakespeare collaborates on writing a play. Towards the end of his career in London Shakespeare collaborated with the younger playwright, John Fletcher in the writing of Henry VIII in 1612, and then ...

John Gerarde, The Herball, 1597 - garden detail on title page

Shakespeare set scenes in gardens such as this Many scenes in Shakespeare’s plays are set in gardens. The formal lay-out of beds and hedges seen on this title-page engraving were familiar to ...

John Gerarde, The Herball, 1597 - Apples are described, p.1275, detail.

The uses of apples: Shakespeare's references to fruit. The Herball of John Gerarde explains how apple trees cost little to maintain, but produce a fine crop for everyone. The orchards of Kent and of ...