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 ...
Hungarian Quatercentenary Plaquette
This small bronze plaque, with only one decorated side, was designed in Hungary for the four-hundredth anniversary in 1964 of Shakespeare's birth. The image is derived from Martin Droeshout's engraving ...
James Saunders's collections on the Quiney family. Letter book - binding
Volume containing copies, made c. 1810-25 by Captain James Saunders of Stratford-upon-Avon, of miscellaneous documents concerning the Quiney family. They include copies of two letters containing mention ...
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 Addenbrooke released on bail: August 1608, back
Thomas Hornby, a Stratford townsman, agreed to stand bail for John Addenrooke, whereupon he was released, pending further action.
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust reference: BRU 15/5/139, verso
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 ...