William L. Clements Library
Past Exhibit
Exhibit at the Great Hall of the William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan.
Shakespeare's Worlds in Maps
Clements Library Exhibit - October 2 - December 22, 2006
The printed cartography
of William Shakespeare's lifetime (1564-1616) is the subject of "Shakespeare's
Worlds in Maps", a new exhibit at the William L. Clements Library. The
exhibit, which will run until December 22, recognizes the visit to the University
of Michigan of the Royal Shakespeare Company for performances of Anthony
and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, and The Tempest. The informal display
includes examples of maps of the world, the British Isles, the classical world,
and the Americas, produced between 1486 and the early 1600s and all drawn from
the library’s rich cartographic collection.
Although William Shakespeare seems to have traveled little, he lived at a time
when the expanding medium of print was exposing Europeans to a wider world as
exploration, trade, and colonization provided fresh information about other
lands, including the Americas. Although it is not known if Shakespeare had seen
any of the maps displayed in this exhibit, they are all examples of information
that was become increasingly available to educated Britons in his day. The maps
address a variety of themes, including the beginnings of English colonization
of North America at Roanoke in the 1580s and in Virginia in 1607, current events
of Shakespeare’s day. Contemporary maps and accounts of Bermuda are included
as well; depicting a place that some scholars maintain served as the inspiration
for The Tempest.
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