Alice Griffin Lecture 2024: Shakespeare’s Books?

Professor Rosalind Smith

This lecture discusses two possible instances of Shakespeare’s book ownership in collections in Australia – the first a signature in a 1560 copy of Antony Cope’s History of Hannibal and Scipio held in the State Library Victoria, and the second a gift inscription in a 1577 Bible held at the National Library of Australia. One of the great mysteries in Shakespeare scholarship is his missing library and I ask in this lecture whether these books might fill that gap, making them some of the most valuable and significant early modern books in the world.