Shakespeare: The Life, The Works, The Treasures

Hailed as the world's greatest playwright, William Shakespeare has captured the hearts and minds of more audiences than any other. No other writer's works are more performed or more often quoted.

Produced in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and beautifully illustrated with both contemporary pictures from Shakespeare's time and photographs of RSC performances, Shakespeare: The Life, The Works, The Treasures brings the poet's life alive. It delves into the likely sources that inspired him to write such masterpieces as The Merchant of Venice, Othello and Macbeth and assesses the influences of subsequent generations of performers who have shown the "infinite variety" with which Shakespeare's work can be adapted for all forms of media. A must for both aficionados and those discovering him for the first time, Shakespeare: The Life, The Works, The Treasures is unique in containing 30 items of removable facsimile memorabilia including:

• Shakespeare's baptism record

• Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway's marriage bond

• King James I's patent giving Shakespeare and his fellow actors the right to perform plays throughout the country

• Shakespeare's will

• An extract from the First Folio of 1623

• Tickets issued by the Royal Shakespeare Company to the opening of the Swan Theatre

Shakespeare: The Life, The Works, The Treasures is the ultimate tribute to the "noble memory" of the world's greatest writer.