John Gerarde, The Herball, 1597 - narcissus, p.108.
Flowers for enjoyment in Shakespeare's England.
The Elizabethans loved colour of all kinds in their embroidered and decorated clothes. The often elaborate painted wall-hangings of their homes frequently ...
John Gerarde, The Herball, 1597 - portrait, on back of title-page, p.B6v.
John Gerarde, herbalist: a contemporary of Shakespeare.
The large linen ruff was a fashion imported from the Netherlands, but adopted by all who could afford the starches needed to create such an accessory. ...
John Gerarde, The Herball, 1597 - roses, p.1079.
Roses feature more than once in Shakespeare’s plays.
Gerarde's Herbal gave Elizabethans the chance to see the plants that Shakespeare had in mind as he wrote certain scenes in his plays. In the ...
John Gerarde, The Herball, 1597 - title-page
An owner of a volume contemporary with Shakespeare has replaced a missing title-page.
The decorative title-pages of books have occasionally been damaged, or removed by their owners. This copy of ...
John Gerarde, The Herball, 1597 - violets, p.699, detail.
A Shakespearian plant reference.
The plant and flower references in Shakespeare’s works are numerous. John Gerarde’s Herball lists and describes all the plants known in contemporary England, ...
John Gerarde, The Herball, 1597 - Wall Flowers, p.371.
Wallflowers in a Shakespeare source.
Wallflowers in John Gerarde’s History of plantes are clearly illustrated and named ‘gilloflower’. This popular name persists as ‘gillys’ ...
John Norden, The View of London Bridge from east to west, [1597]
London Bridge, looking upstream in Shakespeare's time.
London's medieval bridge was thronged with passers-by entering the city. At the south end (left on this contemporary engraving) lay the gate above ...
John Norden, The View of London Bridge from east to west, [1597] - detail - note the water-wheel under the bridge.
The northern bank of the Thames at London in Shakespeare's time.
The water-tower at the northern end of London Bridge raised river water to distribute it into the city.
Full title: John Norden, ...
John Norden, The View of London Bridge from east to west, [1597] - detail of bridge and houses above
A coach enters Shakespeare's London.
The centre of London Bridge had one short section where the houses did not loom five or six storeys high above the roadway. Norden shows a coach and a stream of ...
John Norden, The View of London Bridge from east to west, [1597] - detail of capsized rowing boat
A ‘taxi-boat’ in difficulties on the river Thames in Shakespeare's time.
Small rowing boats were the most common method of crossing the river Thames. These ferries acted as taxis and would ...
John Norden, The View of London Bridge from east to west, [1597] - detail, a 'taxi' boat passes freight-carrying-boats at anchor
River transport in Shakespeare's London.
In London the main means of crossing the river, apart from the only bridge, was by small rowing boat ferries, which acted as ‘taxi-boats’. These ...
John Norden, The View of London Bridge from east to west, [1597] - lower left corner, dedicating the engraving to The Lord Mayor.
Dedication of the view of London bridge as Shakespeare knew it.
Norden dedicated his engraving to the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Richard Saltonshall, as this corner of the engraving shows.
Transcript:
To ...
John Norden, The View of London Bridge from east to west, [1597] - lower right corner of the engraving, panel descibing the bridge.
London's bridge described in Shakespeare's time.
John Norden's engraving of London Bridge carries a description. Here we learn that along its length lay 102 homes, built alongside and over the 30 foot ...
John Norden, The View of London Bridge from east to west, [1597] - Southern bank details including a crane, and heads on spikes above the gateway.
The south end of London Bridge, close to Shakespeare’s Globe.
The southern end of London Bridge led directly into the parish of St. Mary Overy. This was a busy area for industry as is indicated ...
John Shakespeare, High Bailiff of Stratford-upon-Avon, 1569
Minutes of a meeting of the Stratford Corporation, 7 September 1569: 'Mr John Shakysper hygh balyf' heads the list of aldermen and chief burgesses attending. Shakespeare's father, John, had been active ...
Letter from Adrian Quiney to his son, Richard, October 1598. Page 1
Richard Quiney's financial dealings with Shakespeare in London evidently came to the attention of his father, Adrian, back in Stratford, who wrote to him about this time, advising him that 'if you should ...
Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 1634 - Decorative printer's borders around a plot summary, Book 5, p.32 detail.
A printer's heading ornament in a Shakespeare sourcebook.
The finely engraved illustrations in this edition of Ariosto contrast with the simple printer’s border with decorative ornaments above ...
Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 1634 - Ariodante and Dalinda, illustration pl.V, p.31.
Illustration for the story on which Shakespeare based a comedy sub-plot.
The tale of Ariodante, and Ginevra impersonated by Dalinda is the subject of a fine engraving in the 1634 edition of Harington's ...