Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 1634 - binding view.
A contemporary expensive decorative binding on a Shakespeare source text
The fine gold tooling, and leather spine label are original to this volume, indicating a wealthy first owner who commissioned ...
Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 1634 - portrait of Ariosto, prelim.p. 1r. title page, detail.
An Italian who inspired Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
The work of Italian poet and dramatist Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533) had considerable influence over in English writing in Shakespeare's time, ...
Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 1634 - shipwreck illustration , pl. XLI, p. 341
Shipwrecks and storms at sea were often in the news in Shakespeare's London.
The storms of the Mediterranean sea were notorious. Shakespeare included them in his plays of The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth ...
Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 1634 - shipwreck, pl.XLI.
Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. Ariosto’s storms at sea are a possible source for Shakespeare's The Tempest or Pericles.
Shipwrecks and storms often feature in Ariosto’s work, and such ...
Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 1634 - Sir John Harington, title page, detail.
A courtier: Sir John Harington, Shakespeare's contemporary.
Sir John Harington, son of Henry VIII's treasurer, was godson to Queen Elizabeth I. He was educated at Eton College and Cambridge before ...
Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 1634 - title page, prelim.p.1r.
An English translation of a Shakespeare source.
Shakespeare also knew the work of the Italian Renaissance poet Ludovico Ariosto. Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso was published in Italy in 1516, and ...
Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 1634 -p. 32, Book 5, a source for a sub-plot.
The source for Hero and Claudio in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.
Ariosto’s story of Ariodante and Genevra, as well as Matteo Bandello’s Novelle, was the main source for the Hero ...
Michael Drayton, Poems, 1610 - title page, A1r.
Drayton: the other Warwickshire poet well-known in Shakespeare's time.
Michael Drayton was born in 1563 at Hartshill in Warwickshire and often visited Clifford Chambers, a village close to Stratford. ...
Michael Drayton, Polyolbion, 1613 - 13th Song, p. 213
Warwickshire, and Shakespeare's ‘merrie meeting’.
According to John Ward, writing in the 1660s, Shakespeare had a 'merrie meeting' with Drayton, and the playwright Ben Jonson in 1616, ...
Michael Drayton, Polyolbion, 1613 - Map of Warwickshire, plate between p. 212 & p. 213.
Contemporary writers in Shakespeare’s County.
William Shakespeare's native county of Warwickshire in the English Midlands was illustrated in the long poem, Polyolbion, by Michael Drayton. The ...
Michael Drayton, Polyolbion, 1613 - Map of Warwickshire, plate between p.212 & p.213.
Warwickshire and the river Avon, for Shakespeare’s contemporary poet.
Polyolbion, the long poem by Shakespeare’s fellow Warwickshireman, Michael Drayton, is illustrated by fanciful engraved ...
Michael Drayton, Polyolbion, 1613 - Musicmakers by the River Severn - plate between p.54 & p.55
Country music making in Shakespeare's time.
Queen Elizabeth I was skilled on the virginals, (a keyboard instrument, popular for accompaniment of singers), and all classes of society were encouraged ...
Michael Drayton, Polyolbion, 1613 - title page.
Drayton: the other Warwickshire poet: a friend of Shakespeare.
Drayton's most well-known poem Polyolbion (1613) comprises thirty 'songs' which form a survey of England in verse couplets. Between 1597 ...
Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes , 1603 - p. 558, Of Coaches..
Shakespeare's French contemporary writes on transport.
Montaigne's essays range widely over subjects, but in 'Of Coaches' the author describes his dislike of any boat, or vehicle transport, whether ...
Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes done into English by John Florio..., 1603 - detail p.558.
Shakespeare’s contemporary in France.
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592) born in south-west France, was tutored at home, before studying medicine, and then law at university. He was responsible ...
Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, 1603 - p. A4r detail.
Dedicatory verses to a noble patron of Shakespeare's contemporary.
Members of Queen Elizabeth's court, both men and women, as well as the Queen herself, enjoyed the work of poets and playwrights, offering ...
Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, 1603 - binding front board
A binding contemporary with Shakespeare, with its owner's blind-stamp mark, dated 1603.
The plain leather boards of this volume are the original binding created for its first owner, whose personal ...
Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, 1603 - 'Of Cannibals' p.100.
A source for Caliban in Shakespeare's The Tempest.
Florio’s translation of Montaigne was registered in 1600, and it is possible that Shakespeare saw a manuscript before the Essays were printed ...