Heritage et AL

‘Shakespeare in his time’ , the current exhibition on at Sir George Grey Special Collections to mark 400 years since Shakespeare’s death, has seen many people come through to get a glimpse of the world in which Shakespeare lived and to see some of his own work and inspiration on display. For those that have yet to see the exhibition, it remains on until the 19th of June, but for those who cannot make it, or want a little something extra, these curator talks are for you! These short segments feature Georgia Prince, Iain Sharp, Kate de Courcy and Ian Snowdon, the curators of the exhibition, giving a little bit more background on particular areas and display cases they worked on.   Have a listen below and find more on  Auckland Libraries’ Soundcloud page ! Ref: William Shakespeare, Pericles, 1619, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 1619 SHAK. Curator Iain Sharp discusses the four Folios on display alongside the quarto edition of Pericl...

Shakespeare’s prolific contemporary Michael Drayton (1563-1631) was a poet who habitually thought on a grand scale, his taste running to epics and long, linked sequences rather than individual lyrics. He often drew his inspiration from British history and geography. He wrote at length about the battle of Agincourt, the Wars of the Roses and Edward II’s favourite Piers Gaveston. His most ambitious project, however, was Poly-Olbion , which in the mellifluous phrasing of the subtitle offers a ‘description of tracts, rivers, mountains, forests and other parts of this renowned Isle of Great Britain, with intermixture of the most remarkable stories, antiquities, wonders, rarities, pleasures and commodities of the same’. Written in rhymed couplets and stretching to more than 15,000 lines of iambic hexameter, it took many years to compose. The first part was published in 1613 and the second did not appear until 1622. Drayton intended a third instalment, dedicated to the wonders of Scotlan...

Over the past few weeks the Central City Library has been host to two talks in a series of events to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 1616, with two more events scheduled. In conjunction with the Pop-up Globe we have had some outstanding speakers who have brought a range of perspectives and expertise to these events. For those who have missed it, the first talk, Shakespeare from page to stage , has been uploaded to the Auckland Libraries YouTube channel . See Miles Gregory, Artistic Director of Pop-up Globe and director of Twelfth night , Professor Tom Bishop from the University of Auckland and Ben Naylor, director of Romeo and Juliet in conversation with Auckland Libraries’ own Iain Sharp .

There are  a number of Shakespearean treasures in the Sir George Grey Special Collections at the Central City Library. Many of these are from the founding collections donated by Sir George Grey in 1882. The First Folio was the first edition to collect together 36 of Shakespeare's plays and is a highly prized publication. Without it, Shakespeare's plays would be lost to us. The publication was edited by the actors John Hemminge and Henry Condell and only about 1,000 copies were originally printed. The library's First Folio is one of just three in the Southern Hemisphere and one of only 228 remaining copies in the world. Thanks to Grey's donation, we are also the only library in NZ with a rare First Folio and a contemporary quarto of one of the plays (Pericles, 1619). The library also hold many publications by Shakespeare's contemporaries, such as Ben Jonson, Edmund Spenser and John Donne. Dr. Emma Smith of Hertford College, University of Oxford University...