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In crafting his plays, William Shakespeare drew from a vast repertoire of sources.  From contemporary poetry to the works of ancient playwrights, the English dramatist borrowed widely, taking inspiration from historical chronicles and biblical narratives alike.  

Much of Shakespeare’s creative brilliance lay in his ability to weave together ideas and characters from diverse sources to craft complex stories and powerful dramatizations.  This exhibition, comprising materials from the collection at W.D Jordan Rare Books and Special Collections at Queen's University, showcases fourteen books that lay at the heart of Shakespeare’s craft, in the very editions he would have kept in his own library. 

This exhibition was originally staged to accompany the 'Training the Early Modern Heart' conference held by the Department of English Literature and Creative Writing, Queen's University, July 2025.

All the books mentioned in this exhibition are held in the collections of W.D. Jordan Rare Books and Special Collections, Queen’s University Library.