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IIIF Stories

Up Close: Gods and mortals in Ovid's Metamorphoses
Shakespeare and Beyond

Up Close: Gods and mortals in Ovid's Metamorphoses

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Esther French

How well do you know Greek and Roman myths? See if you can identify the mythological figures on the title page of this 1626 edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Up Close: A 'Seven Ages of Man' painting
Seven Ages of Man
Shakespeare and Beyond

Up Close: A 'Seven Ages of Man' painting

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Take a closer look at a 19th-century oil painting in the Folger collection that depicts all seven ages of man from Jaques’s speech in Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.”

Up Close: The voodoo Macbeth that generated jobs for Black Americans during the Great Depression
Shakespeare and Beyond

Up Close: The voodoo Macbeth that generated jobs for Black Americans during the Great Depression

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Shakespeare & Beyond

A spectacular 1936 Federal Theatre Project production of “Macbeth” in New York City employed hundreds of black actors and theater technicians. It was financed by the Federal Theatre Project, a controversial part of the federal government’s New Deal programs to…

Up Close: Three scenes from Hamlet
Shakespeare and Beyond

Up Close: Three scenes from Hamlet

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Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

Can you identify what’s happening in each of these three scenes from Hamlet? The drawings by British illustrator John Jellicoe are part of the Folger collection.

Up Close: A poll book from the 1710 election in London
Shakespeare and Beyond

Up Close: A poll book from the 1710 election in London

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Voting was not a secret process in early modern England. The poll book shown here published the names of all the voters in London and which candidates and party they voted for in 1710.

Up Close: An 18th-century caricature of the Shakespeare-forging William Henry Ireland and his family
Shakespeare and Beyond

Up Close: An 18th-century caricature of the Shakespeare-forging William Henry Ireland and his family

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Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

This hand-colored caricature from 1797, “The Oaken Chest or the Gold Mines of Ireland, a Farce,” satirizes William Henry Ireland and his family in their forgery of the “Shakespeare Papers.” The print is full of delightful details that will make…

Up Close: A 1574 map of London
Shakespeare and Beyond

Up Close: A 1574 map of London

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Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

This 1574 hand-colored map of London and its surroundings shows us something of the London in which William Shakespeare lived and worked. Get an up-close look at the map and learn more about it by clicking through the arrows to…

Up Close: The Plimpton “Sieve” portrait of Queen Elizabeth I
Shakespeare and Beyond

Up Close: The Plimpton “Sieve” portrait of Queen Elizabeth I

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Author
Shakespeare & Beyond

Get an up-close look at the painting and learn more about it by clicking through the arrows to see captions that zoom in on different parts of the image. Click the eye icon to hide or display the text.

Up Close: Shakespeare's First Folio
First Folio title page
Shakespeare and Beyond

Up Close: Shakespeare's First Folio

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Get an up-close look at the title page of one of the Folger’s 82 First Folios and learn more about it by clicking through captions that zoom in on different parts of the page.