Shakespeare Exhibition

To celebrate the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, we have created an exhibition focusing on items from the archive and library collections which inspired the bard.

The exhibition looks at some of the books which Shakespeare would have used for inspiration for his works, and some of the people who became the characters in his plays.

There are also unique pictures from the archives showing how Downside School acted out the famous plays from The Merchant of Venice to Hamlet. Many of the photos are from the early twentieth century.

Many of the books in our exhibition are first editions, including John Florio’s translation of Michel de Montaigne’s The Essays of Morrall, Politik, and Militarie Discourses from 1603.