A Shakespeare Motley: An Illustrated Compendium

by The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Inspired by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s collection, a beautifully produced and illustrated miscellany of fascinating facts, definitions, and quotes relating to the world’s most famous playwright. A Shakespeare Motley is a delightful cabinet of Shakespearean curiosities, arranged in alphabetical order, that will inform, enthuse, intrigue, and amuse anyone who wants to know more about the life and work of the world’s best-known author. Drawing unusual connections, this ingenious guide will show you what Hamlet’s Ophelia has to do with The Tempest and Twelfth Night , and how a stage direction speaks to Elizabethan treatment of bears. With entries ranging from “apothecary” to “zephyr,” this succinct book is full of captivating details illuminating all corners of Shakespeare’s world. The volume is illustrated throughout with images taken exclusively from the archives of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Readers will quickly gain a vivid, authentic sense of Shakespearean times, from the fascination of falconry to the elegance of eglantine and the resonances of ring-giving. Accessible yet also full of expert insight and knowledge, this is a wonderful window on the ideas and influences that may have informed Shakespeare’s work. A perfect gift for theater lovers, anglophiles, and all those fascinated by the life and work of the playwright. 225 illustrations, 185 in color

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Shakespeare, Reference

160 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 2020

Reviews

[Charlotte (The Writers' Crown) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This truly is a motley of knowledge and the book is stunning, visually. I'd love to have prints of a lot of the images used. The book is full of intriguing and unusual information for those interested the context of Shakespeare and his work. The book also provides a lot of primary sources which I'd love to look into more.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly delightful. The images were really well sourced, and the corresponding mini-essays were that perfect mix of academic and fun. I felt little kid curious throughout.

[Neal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shakespeare lovers (like myself) will adore this.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

From Actor to Zodiac this alphabetical collection of trivia covers bits and pieces of Shakespeare's life and works, mostly the plays but also touching on the poems. There are lots of illustrations taken from various sources in the collections of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Many are in woodcut-style engravings. The end matter lists the sources of the non-Shakespeare quotes and of the illustrations. The illustration sources are listed alphabetically by title with the page numbers of the illustrations listed with each one so it would take time to find the source of a particular illustration. There's no index so you have to read the text to find references to particular plays or poems. There's not even a table of contents, but the entries are alphabetical.
Entries are: Apple, Apothecary, Apple, Armour; Bear, Bee, Brewing; Candle, Cat, Cherubin; Doublet, Dragon, Drowning; Eglantine, Egypt, Execution, Eyes; Falconry, Fashion, Folio, Frost; Gardener, Globe, Gloves; Hands, Hemlock, Horse; Illyria, Ink, Insects; James I, Jester; Kings; London, Lottery, Lovers; Mermaid, Mulberry, Music, Nightingale, Nothing, Nutmeg; Oak, Ovid, Owl; Plague, Portrait, Printing; Queen Elizabeth I, Question, Quill; Remembrance, Rings, Rose; School, Ship, Spider; Tennis, Time, Twins; Unicorn, Urchin, Urinal; Venice, Victuals, Volumes; Witches, Wood; X (cross)-gartered; Yellow, Yorick; Zephyr, Zodiac.
An interesting collection of tidbits on Shakespeare and his times. A good supplement to study of the plays and the man.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully made book. It is a miscellany of alphabetically arranged subjects that have importance in either Shakespeare's plays or in the Elizabethan and Jacobean era and illustrated with images drawn from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust's collection. While informative, its chief value is as an inviting coffee table item to catch the interest of a casual reader and spark a desire to pursue the plays and sonnets.

[Josephine Runci · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice book. Beautifully illustrated, it is interesting for rhose who approach Shakespeare for the first time and full of trivia and curiosities for those who are already familiar with his plays and the Tudor/Jacobean Period.
I thouroughtly enjoyed doing some more research about the topics that most impressed me.

[Andrea Engle · Rating 5 out of 5]

An alphabetically arranged companion to the literary works of William Shakespeare, and thus to Elizabethan England ... copiously illustrated with contemporaneous pictures, title pages, and vignettes ... fascinating ...

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

If the purposes of such a book include encouraging one to read more Shakespeare, or to revisit some old favorites, this does the job. The notes and snippets add a color to some of the Bards turn of phrase that I hadn't picked up in school.

[Thomasm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautiful book is would make a great addition to a middle school and high school library and would serve as a jumping off point for more historical research for students.

[Katie Thielke Gustafson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations, one page topics, fun reading to pick up for a few minutes or browse, good reference book

[Sophie Amalya]

Beautiful illustrations and quotes, educational yet quick and easy to read. A wonderful collector’s piece and memorabilia of Stratford! LOVED IT.

[Wena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

beautifully produced, but insubstantial A-Z of Shakespeare-related miscellanea.