Songs of Shakespeare

Illustrator Harriette Charlotte Hoskyns Abrahall British, born France

Publisher Day & Son, Ltd., London British

1865

Not on view

One page of this lovely illustrated book is devoted to a song from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (act 2, scene 2) crooned by Titania’s fairy attendants to lull their queen to sleep. Hedgehogs, spotted snakes, newts, and spiders—all of which the text instructs to keep their distance—appear in the elaborate border, where color lithography reproduces the brilliant effects of manuscript illumination. Married to an Anglican minister, Abrahall designed this book while moving between postings in Oxfordshire and Wales.

Artwork Details

Title: Songs of Shakespeare
Illustrator: Harriette Charlotte Hoskyns Abrahall (British (born France), Dunkerque, Nord, ca. 1829–1915)
Author: William Shakespeare (British, Stratford-upon-Avon 1564–1616 Stratford-upon-Avon)
Publisher: Day & Son, Ltd., London
Date: 1865
Medium: Illustrations: color lithographs (chromolithographs) with gold
Dimensions: 11 5/16 x 8 9/16 x 5/8 in. (28.7 x 21.7 x 1.6 cm)
Classification: Books
Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1966
Object Number: 66.541.38
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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By Day & Son, Ltd., London

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