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Shakespeare First Folio facsimile engraving by John Swaine

SR OS 37 (8300002X). Shakespeare First Folio, 1623. Mr. VVilliam Shakespeares comedies, histories, & tragedies. Published according to the true originall copies. Editors' dedication signed: Iohn Heminge. Henry Condell. Printed at the charges of W. Iaggard, Ed. Blount, I. Smithweeke, and W. Aspley. 1623.
The Binding is 1/2 calf with marbled paper boards, probably bound for Robert Bell Wheler before c.1850. This First Folio was acquired by Robert Bell Wheler (1785-1857) c.1820; it was bequeathed to his sister Miss Anne Wheler, who donated it to the Shakespeare Museum in 1862.
This fragmentary copy is recorded in the Lee Census 143, Class IIIB; West No. 38; Introductory pages are missing. Lacks 65 leaves incl. preliminaries, Tempest, Othello, parts of Two Gentlemen of Verona, Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Cymbeline; 12 shorter leaves introduced from other copies(?); facsimile portrait engraved by John Swaine; several leaves misbound; minor tears repaired; some MS. ink marginal notes.
Frontispiece, facsimile portrait engraved by John Swaine.

© The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Hamlet by John Masey Wright, 19th Century

SBT 2015-11. Sketches by John Masey Wright O.W.S., C19th
SBT 2015-11/1. Hamlet. Pencil and Wash drawing by John Masey Wright (1777-1866), O.W.S. From an album of J.M. Wright drawings. Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 4, “It will not speake: then I will follow it”. Depicting Hamlet making ready to follow the ghost of his father, restrained by Horatio and Marcellus. Mounted and unglazed. (Mount: 295 x 305mm. Sketch 125mm x 150mm)

© The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton by John L Riley

Henry Wriothesley (1573-1624),3rd Earl of Southampton (copy of an earlier painting, the 'Tower' portrait) by John L. Riley. Henry Wriothesley was one of Shakespeare's patrons. He would find him work and support some of his living needs. Henry was a popular but controversial figure. He came from a Catholic dynasty - a major sticking point in post-reformation England. Since Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church and formed the Church of England, being a Catholic in England had become dangerous, and Henry's father had been discovered helping the Jesuit Edmund Campion evade capture for heresy. From a young age, Henry had been raised by Lord Burghley, Elizabeth I's chief minister, to save him from the 'corrupting influence' of his father. By 19, Henry was well established as a wealthy member of the court and was well known for his enthusiasm for literature; Shakespeare capitalised on this and sought to curry favour with him by including a foreword in his work Venus and Adonis, first printed in 1593.

© The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust