The Trevelyon Miscellany of 1608 is one of the Folger Shakespeare Library's greatest treasures. Aside from Shakespeare's First Folio, it is the only book in the Folger collection to have an entire exhibition devoted to it, in 2004. Its 594 oversized pages depict life in Shakespeare's England in all of its brilliant complexities—from the mythical to the mundane, poetical to practical, religious to secular.
Thomas Trevelyon, the compiler, was a skilled scribe and pattern-maker who had access to a stunning variety of English and Continental woodcuts, engravings, broadsides, almanacs, chronicles, and emblem books, which he transformed from small monochrome images into large and colorful feasts for the eyes. Ostensibly created for the entertainment, education, and edification of his friends and family, Trevelyon's miscellany is a lifetime achievement that continues to delight and mystify modern audiences, with its familiar scenes of domesticity and husbandry intertwined with epic Protestant and political epitomes: accounts of the rulers of England and the Gunpowder Plot, descriptions of local fairs, the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge and astronomy according to Ptolemy, illustrations of the nine muses and the seven deadly sins, of Old Testament history and household proverbs, and whimsical flowers, alphabets, and embroidery patterns.
This massive volume provides an exciting and unparalleled snapshot of the passions, concerns, and everyday interests of a highly talented London commoner and for this reason is of significant scholarly and general interest. It is a monumental work that was intended to be both studied and enjoyed, its pages turned and savored. For the first time since its arrival at the Folger in 1945, a generous gift from Lessing Rosenwald, this is possible thanks to state-of-the-art conservation and high resolution digitization by Luna Imaging.
This limited edition, full-size facsimile of the entire manuscript is being produced to celebrate the Folger Shakespeare Library's 75th anniversary in 2007. It complements the only other extant work by Thomas Trevelyon, his Great book (1616), parts of which were published in facsimile for members of the Roxburghe club, London, in 2002.
Collector's Edition
50 copies, bound in green velvet with gilt decoration comprising a two-line border and panels with tooled floral vases at angles and an arabesque strapwork centerpiece (modeled after an early 17th-century binding in the Folger collection selected by Head of Conservation Frank Mowery). The edition will be hand-bound by Peter Geraty at the Praxis Bindery, Easthampton, Massachusetts, and housed in an elegant linen-covered clamshell box.
Price: $3,500
Limited Edition
950 copies, printed on archival paper, smythe sewn and bound in cloth-wrapped boards with a reinforced spine and full-color dust jacket.
Price: $750
To order the Limited Edition Facsimile
please contact:
University of Washington Press
P.O. Box 50096
Seattle, Washington 98145-5096
Phone: (800) 441–4115
Fax: (800) 669–7993
