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, full of beautiful illustrations, 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. The Trevelyon Miscellany of 1608 was published in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Folger Shakespeare Library.

Home to the world's largest Shakespeare collection and a primary repository for research material from the early modern period (1500-1750), the Folger Shakespeare Library is an internationally recognized research library offering advanced scholarly programs in the humanities; a national leader in how Shakespeare is taught in grades K-12; and an award-winning producer of cultural and arts programs-theater, music, poetry, exhibits, lectures, and family programs.