This week, as the world marks the 462nd birthday of William Shakespeare, we celebrate with one of the most captivating items in the Wormsley Library collection.

This exquisite collection of engraved illustrations for John Bell’s edition of Shakespeare’s plays (London, 1775) resides in the Wormsley Library, lovingly preserved for future generations. Highlights are these two portraits of Shakespeare and 71 illustrations of actors, such as David Garrick in performances of Shakespeare’s plays. The handsome red morocco binding with gilt neo-classical anthemion and palmette tooling is by Samuel Christian Kalthoeber, a German emigré, the master of that style in late 18th-Century England.