Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1587 - Richard III, in Vol.3, p.732, detail..
Shakespeare’s Richard III was derived from the history written in this text.
Besides using the Chronicles of Holinshed and other contemporaries, as his source for his history plays Shakespeare ...
Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1587 - Richard III, in Vol.3, p.732.
The source for Richard III.
One of Shakespeare's earliest plays, written about 1592, was The Tragedy of Richard III, for which the main source was Holinshed's Chronicles, but which in turn was based ...
Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1587, Printer's ornament, vol. 3, p.A3r, detail..
A Printer's header ornament on a Shakespeare sourcebook.
The printer’s ornaments in many Elizabethan books have elaborate detail. In this volume hunters with their dogs confront a bear while ...
Raphael Holinshed, The... Chronicles, 1587, Vol.3, title page.
The account of English history that Shakespeare read.
Holinshed embarked on revision of the Chronicles, but died in 1580, leaving his notes to be used by the men whose names appeared in the printer's ...
Regent Hotel, Leamington Spa
A small black and white engraving of The Regent Hotel, Leamington Spa. It was taken from Beck's Leamington Guide, 1852, and is possible an advertisement. The picture depicts a hotel, pedestrians, horses ...
Regent Hotel, Leamington Spa
A framed colour engraving of the Regent Hotel, Lower Parade in Leamington Spa, 1st January 1850. There are figures, a horse and cart, plus a mounted figure in the foreground.
Regent Street, Leamington Spa
Colour print by an unknown artist of Leamington Spa, c.1880 - 1915 63mm x 107mm This is possibly a view looking east from The Parade down Regent Street towards Regent Grove. There are men and women walking ...
Richard Day, A Booke of Christian prayers..., 1581 - Animals woodcut, p.81r.
An ornamental woodcut, on a text contemporary with Shakespeare.
Among the many woodcut ornaments in Richard Day’s book of prayers is a distinctive group of animals which include a mythical unicorn, ...
Richard Day, A Booke of Christian prayers..., 1581 - Bear and ragged staff woodcut. Detail, p.84r, Y4r.
Printer's border ornament with bear and ragged staff, symbol of Shakespeare's county.
The chained bear and its ragged staff were part of the emblem of the earls of Warwick, and remain to this day, ...
Richard Day, A Booke of Christian prayers..., 1581 - Christian duty p.53v, detail.
Homilies : life-style advised for Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
All children would accompany their parents to church each Sunday, where they would hear the readings from the Bible, and also the ...
Richard Day, A Booke of Christian prayers..., 1581 - Feed the Hungry woodcut, p.72v.
Charity: feeding the poor in Shakespeare's time.
All communities had their share of the poor and Elizabethans would regularly offer their unwanted ‘left-over’ food to those less fortunate ...
Richard Day, A Booke of Christian prayers..., 1581 - Help the thirsty woodcut p.73r detail
Drinks available in Shakespeare's time.
The regular drink of Elizabethans was cider, ale (which was not strong beer), or for the more wealthy, wine was imported from France, or Germany. Water was used ...
Richard Day, A Booke of Christian prayers..., 1581 - Life and death, p.122v.
Death in everyday life in Shakespeare's time.
Life and death went hand-in-hand everywhere in Shakespeare’s England, where medical knowledge was very limited, and most illness depended on traditional ...
Richard Day, A Booke of Christian prayers..., 1581 - Momento mori woodcut, p.89v, detail.
A possible source for the Capulet tomb.
The end of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet takes place in the Capulet family tomb where the apparently dead Juliet has been laid. Such places had a ghostly reputation, ...
Richard Day, A Booke of Christian prayers..., 1581 - Momento mori woodcuts, p.89v.
The everyday presence of death in Shakespeare's England.
Much of Richard Day’s prayerbook has illustrations which remind readers of the everyday presence of death in the 16th century. ‘Thou ...
Richard Day, A Booke of Christian prayers..., 1581 - Prayers for our enemies, p.54r.
Life-style advice for Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
Many of Day’s marginal woodcuts included scripture quotations and advice on lifestyle, such as ministering to the sick.
Full title: ...
Richard Day, A Booke of Christian prayers..., 1581 - Prayers for wisdom, p.89r.
Private prayers in Shakespeare's time.
Many members of the gentry and the nobility had ordained clergymen as part of their households, and had private indoor chapels, or churches in the grounds of ...
Richard Day, A Booke of Christian prayers..., 1581 - Printers woodcuts, details. p.90v
The hand-press was well-known to Shakespeare.
In the 1580s when William Shakespeare came to London the Stationers' Company had been established for thirty years, since 1557, and it attempted to control ...