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Collection highlights

See highlights from our collection relating to Shakespeare, Elizabeth I, and a range of topics: drama, literature, math, science, geography, food, fashion, and music.

Shakespeare’s life

The Final Concord
Elizabethan handwritten text on creased vellum. Document is cut into two mirrored halves each with long and short wavy-cut sides. Marks on the cut edges of the long sides of both pages match up to reunite the document.
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The Final Concord

This 1602 legal document confirmed Shakespeare’s title to the second-largest house in Stratford-upon-Avon, known as New Place.

Blackfriars Gatehouse Deed
The copy of bargain and sale signed by the vendor when Shakespeare purchased the Blackfriars Gatehouse in London in 1613
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Blackfriars Gatehouse Deed

This manuscript is Shakespeare’s copy of his deed of purchase of the Blackfriars gatehouse in 1613.

Shakespeare in print

Folger First Folio 1
Title page with engraved portrait of Shakespeare in the middle. Text printed above it reads
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Folger First Folio 1

An inscription from 1623 records this book as a gift from the First Folio’s printer, William Jaggard.

A censored Second Folio from Valladolid
Page is divided into 3 sections. Many words and phrases in top half of page are crossed out in black ink. Bottom half of page contains epilogue and a scrollwork triangular shaped printer’s device. Two yellow spots stain the Epilogue.
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A censored Second Folio from Valladolid

An official of the Spanish Inquisition crossed out passages from Shakespeare’s play Henry VIII that use imagery evocative of the Virgin Mary to describe Elizabeth I.

Sangorski’s Songs and Sonnets
Title on white background with a gold vine-leaf design in the upper right corner opposite a large, decorated letter “S.” Oval portrait of bearded European man with a receding hairline wearing a gold hoop earring in his left ear and a deep blue coat with a white collar. Two nude cherubs with blue wings recline on opposite sides of lower corners of the page. The surrounding background is a blue and purple, trailing floral vine.
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Sangorski’s Songs and Sonnets

Alberto Sangorski’s manuscript book of Shakespeare’s songs and sonnets features beautiful calligraphy and gold-leaf illuminations, created in 1926.

Original art for the Hanmer edition of Shakespeare's works
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Original art for the Hanmer edition of Shakespeare's works

These matched images from Measure for Measure are from a unique copy of the Hanmer edition held at the Folger, in which the original watercolor drawings have been inserted near the corresponding engravings.

Shakespeare in performance

Paul Robeson as Othello
Black man wearing green full-length outer garment with bell sleeves over tan full-length tunic. Hand-written annotations included
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Paul Robeson as Othello

Paul Robeson’s 1943 appearance as Othello had the longest run to that time of any Shakespearean production on Broadway.

Fanny Kemble costume design
Faceless image of a woman with brown hair covered by a mantilla and wearing a strand of white beads. Her dress is blue and tan; the ¾ sleeves have rosettes at the shoulder and elbow.
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Fanny Kemble costume design

This costume design was for popular early 19th-century British actress Fanny Kemble’s role as Desdemona in Othello.

Edwin Booth as Richard III
Costume worn by Edwin Booth in the role of Richard III
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Edwin Booth as Richard III

This costume was worn by 19th-century actor Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth, for his role as Richard III.

Elizabeth I: Shakespeare’s queen

The Folger has the largest collection of Elizabeth I materials in North America.

Elizabeth I Sieve Portrait
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Elizabeth I Sieve Portrait

George Gower’s 1579 portrait of Elizabeth I is the earliest of several paintings that show the queen holding a sieve.

Elizabeth I’s letter to Henry IV of France
Elizabeth's signature
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Elizabeth I’s letter to Henry IV of France

In this personal letter, Elizabeth I gives advice to the French king about navigating tensions between Catholics and Protestants.

Leicester's letter to Elizabeth I
Full page of handwritten text. Only a few words can be deciphered without knowledge of Elizabethan handwriting.
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Leicester's letter to Elizabeth I

This letter to Queen Elizabeth I was written by Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester.

More royal connections

These books belonged to members of the British royal family.

Prince Henry’s “boke”
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Prince Henry’s “boke”

The boy who would become King Henry VIII wrote “Thys boke is myne Prince Henry” in this copy of Cicero’s writings from 1502.

Anne of Cleves's Book of Hours
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Anne of Cleves's Book of Hours

Anne of Cleves gifted her husband, King Henry VIII, this illustrated prayer book.

A royal keepsake
Opening of a book with text printed in blackletter. On the left is a full page of text surrounded by an elaborate border showing people in various scenes. The right-hand page has a similar border showing different scenes with text in the top half. Below the text is the large handwritten inscription.
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A royal keepsake

This Catholic Book of Hours contains a handwritten inscription by Elizabeth of York, whose marriage to Henry VII launched the Tudor dynasty and ended England’s Wars of the Roses.

Math and science

Mathematical diagrams from 1482
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Mathematical diagrams from 1482

This edition of Euclid’s Elements, printed in Venice in 1482, is considered the first full-length printed book with extensive mathematical illustrations.

A multilayered anatomy
Page with third set of paper flaps opened to reveal anatomy inside human skull and woman’s body.
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A multilayered anatomy

Johann Remmelin’s Catoptrum Microcosmicum reflects the considerable advances in anatomical knowledge that took place in the Renaissance.

Maps, geography, and travels

A madcap guide for travelers
A title of the book followed by a description, beneath which is a portrait of the author. Scenes from the book surround the page.
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A madcap guide for travelers

This 1611 book by Thomas Coryate has been called the first travel guide printed in England.

Ptolemy edition of 1513
Opening of a book titled “GENERALE PTHOLEMEI” showing a hand-colored map of Europe, North Africa, and part of Asia. Surrounding the map are heads blowing lines of wind towards the map. Part of the map is obscured by the gutter of the pages.
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Ptolemy edition of 1513

When Ptolemy’s Geography was translated into Latin, it had a powerful impact on Renaissance cartographers.

Reporting on the New World
A two-page layout of text and a full-page woodcut. “XIII.” heads the left page, which contains “U” shaped textblock with decorated first letter “T.” Centered below is a triangular printer’s device. The woodcut begins on the left page and extends to the entire right page. Four figures are in a dugout boat filled with fish. Two are standing and fishing; two are seated on opposite sides of a fire. Their reflections are visible in the water. In the distance tree-lined rolling hills meet the shoreline.
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Reporting on the New World

This engraving from a 1590 second edition of Thomas Hariot’s A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia depicts different methods of catching fish.

Religion and the Reformation

An early German Bible
Printed page of a book titled “Das Evangelium” with text in two columns and large initial letters. In the middle of the page, cutting across both columns of text, is a colorful image. On the left side of the image is a man at podium labeled LUCAS, with a winged goat at his side. On the right side of the image are three scenes from the Christian Nativity.
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An early German Bible

This 1483 German Bible, often called the Korburger Bible, was among the early ones to be published in vernacular German.

Martin Luther sermon
The title is in blackletter typeface, with handwriting surrounding it that is difficult to read here. The title and publication information are surrounded by a rectangle of images showing various types of animals fighting, a drunk man, and a man carrying dead birds over his shoulder. A large G intercepted with an I sits at the bottom of the page.
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Martin Luther sermon

This title page from a 1522 Luther sermon on “unrighteous Mammon” is a fine example of the Folger’s large collection of works from the Protestant Reformation.

The Book of Martyrs
Page headed “The Martyrdome of Doct. Thomas Cranmer Archb. Hys Letters.” Poorly inked woodcut of a man being burned at the stake holding his hand out to the flames set by another man. To the left of them is a man in a monk’s habit labeled
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The Book of Martyrs

John Foxe’s Actes and monumentes, more familiarly known as the Book of Martyrs, is fundamental to almost any study of the English Reformation.

Fashion, food, and music

Fashion in Jacobean times
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Fashion in Jacobean times

These watercolor illustrations by an anonymous artist show the highly layered clothing of the period.

Sarah Longe’s recipe book
Two pages of handwritten recipes written in lined columns. The text is too small to read here.
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Sarah Longe’s recipe book

This book, compiled by a middle-class English woman in the early 1600s, freely mingles culinary and medicinal recipes.

Renaissance lute
Stringed instrument with dark wood neck and light wood body on lying on its back against a white background.
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Renaissance lute

This 1598 Italian lute was restored by Arnold Dolmetsch, a leading figure in the revival of early music performance at the beginning of the 20th century.

John Dowland: A song in four parts
Two pages of a book open to sheet music. The first page is titled CANTUS and has sheet music and lyrics. The second page has the same music and lyrics for different vocal ranges labeled as ALTUS, BASSUS, and TENOR, each rotated 90 degrees from the other.
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John Dowland: A song in four parts

This setting of a Fulke Greville sonnet, “Who ever thinks or hopes of love for love,” is from the 1597 first edition of English lutenist John Dowland’s First booke of songes.

Eye-catching books

The Trevelyon Miscellany
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The Trevelyon Miscellany

Thomas Trevelyon’s hand-drawn 1608 miscellany depicts a wide array of subjects, such as English and Scottish rulers, biblical stories, and embroidery patterns.

A “Foure-Footed Beaste”
Full page horizontal woodcut headed
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A “Foure-Footed Beaste”

Edward Topsell’s 1607 bestiary depicts grisly creatures, both actual and mythical.

An embroidered binding
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An embroidered binding

One of the Folger’s most prized bindings, decorated with seed pearls and raised silver thread, holds a 1608 manuscript in the hand of the calligrapher Esther Inglis.

Esther Inglis: Virtuosic calligraphy
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Esther Inglis: Virtuosic calligraphy

From the late 1500s until her death in 1624, calligrapher Esther Inglis created more than 50 beautifully crafted manuscript books, including this collection of poems.

A chained book
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A chained book

This volume from the 1490s, with its hand-wrought chain to secure it to a shelf, is one of a few existing examples of a chain binding.

A binding with Shakespeare miniatures
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A binding with Shakespeare miniatures

Each of the painted miniatures on this 1928 Cosway binding represents a famous image, or supposed image, of Shakespeare.

Life in London

Visscher’s View of London
A long horizontal view that has creases in two places and a tear from top to bottom in another. It shows the skyline of London on the far bank, the river full of boats dominating the middle and a small view of the near bank of the river. Buildings and other landmarks are labeled in text that is too small to read here.
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Visscher’s View of London

The Globe theater is visible in this engraving by Claes Visscher, first issued in 1616.

A 16th-century market
A drawing titled Escheape Market showing two men driving a heard of sheep and two cows between rows of shops. Two women stand in front of a pillar.
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A 16th-century market

This 1598 illustration shows Escheape Market, a meat market in London with butchers’ shops along both sides of the street.

A royal procession
A parade of people on horseback and in carriages marches past tightly packed together red- and blue-roofed buildings that are two to three stories high. The drawing is labeled Entrée Royalle de la Reyne Mere du Roytres-Chrestien Dans la Ville de Londres.
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A royal procession

This scene depicts the visit of a royal relative of England’s Charles I, but it also shows details of daily life in mid-1600s London.

More collection highlights

A fencing handbook
Page headed “THE THYRDE DAYES Discourse, of Rapier and Dagger.” Text and image on reverse page are visible. Woodcut is bordered by a single black line and depicts two similar European men holding swords and daggers facing one another while standing on a grid. Centered below is text headed “Luke.”
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A fencing handbook

Fencing terminology from this manual by Vincentio Saviolo, an Italian fencing master who settled in London around 1590, appears in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

An Italian guide to war
Open to pages 62-63 and each is headed, “LVCAR APPENDIX.” Woodcut of a man pulling the lever of a smoking mortar that hurls a burning projectile onto the distant building with four turrets. On page 63, there is a text above and below a woodcut of a quadrant showing the angle of fire of the artillery piece on the facing page.
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An Italian guide to war

This beautifully hand-colored book is a 1588 translation of Niccolò Tartaglia’s Quesiti et inventioni diverse, which offers practical advice on the technology of war.

Sir Walter Raleigh’s release
Oblong piece of vellum with handwriting in ink faded to pale brown that is too small to read here. The left side of the vellum has some sort of stain or water damage obscuring the text. Hanging from the vellum is a small strip, attached to which is a round wax disk showing a man seated on a throne.
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Sir Walter Raleigh’s release

With this royal warrant, James I authorized his release from the Tower of London based upon the promise that Raleigh would voyage to the New World and return with gold.