Shakespeare Motley

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 falconr.