Falstaff loved sack. But who made the sack, and how? What did Hamlet know about poison? What did astrology mean to a couple of star-cross'd lovers back in the day? This unique encyclopedia compiles an enormous breadth of information about Shakespeare's world. More than 200 articles, most accompanied by vivid illustrations, combine rich historical detail with informative, insightful descriptions on the form and function of obscure and everyday items found in Shakespeare's works. Students can look up meanings of specific terms and concepts, and readers, researchers, actors, and audiences will enjoy the lively--and sometimes humorous--essays on myriad topics including anatomy, astronomy, clothing, currency, death, entertainment, hunting, medicine, mythology, tools, weapons, and much more. A table of weights and measures illuminates such terms as cade, firkin, and hogshead. Maps pinpoint many of the locations mentioned in Shakespeare's plays and poems. Each term notes in which works the item can be found, and a chronology of historical events referenced in Shakespeare's plays concisely identifies the important events that figure in the plays.

The New York Times bestselling author of A History of the World in 100 Objects brings the world of Shakespeare and the Tudor era of Elizabeth I into focus We feel we know Shakespeare’s characters. Think of Hamlet, trapped in indecision, or Macbeth's merciless and ultimately self-destructive ambition, or the Machiavellian rise and short reign of Richard III. They are so vital, so alive and real that we can see aspects of ourselves in them. But their world was at once familiar and nothing like our own. In this brilliant work of historical reconstruction Neil MacGregor and his team at the British Museum, working together in a landmark collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the BBC, bring us twenty objects that capture the essence of Shakespeare's universe. This magnificent book, illustrated throughout with more than one hundred vibrant color photographs, invites you to travel back in history and to touch, smell, and feel what life was like at that pivotal moment, when humankind leaped into the modern age. This was an exhilarating time when discoveries in science and technology altered the parameters of the known world.

This is a newly revised edition of Andrew Gurr's classic account of the people for whom Shakespeare wrote his plays. Gurr assembles evidence from the writings of the time to describe the physical structure of the playhouses, the services provided in the auditorium, the cost of a ticket and a cushion, the size of the crowds, the smells, the pickpockets, and the collective feelings generated by the plays. As well as revising and adding new material which has emerged since the second edition, Gurr develops new sections. He considers the difference between Shakespearean and modern thinking about early staging, the complex historical process which established the permanent playhouses, and the development of a distinctly different acting style in the open-air playhouses from that of the indoor halls. Fifty new entries have been added to the list of playgoers and there are a dozen fresh quotations about the experience of playgoing.