In this folder, you’ll find four image files: one copy of the engraving by Martin Droeshout from the 1623 First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays; and three versions of Reading Shakespeare by Lauren Mulkey.
Droeshout’s engraving was published in the 1623 First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays, Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. Published according to the True Originall Copies. My source for the image is my own copy of the Norton Facsimile of the First Folio (1968) prepared by Charlton Hinman. Droeshout’s engraving is considered by many scholars to be the most authentic likeness of Shakespeare’s face. Droeshout, who probably never saw the playwright in-person, may have worked from another drawing or painting to create this ‘portrait’, which has been reproduced and modified countless times since the seventeenth-century.
Lauren Mulkey gave me permission to reproduce and freely distribute these digital copies of her original work, Reading Shakespeare, which she created in my Looking for Shakespeare course during Fall Quarter, 2001. Lauren graduated from DU with a degree in Electronic Media Arts Design. I gave Laruen my digital copy of Droeshout’s portrait of W. S., which she enlarged and then printed to use as the basis for her adaptation that includes many striking elements, such as: hand-sewn bead work; sequins, coloring and detailed line enhancements; a selection of partial quotations (in the background) from Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, and Richard III; and (on Shakespeare’s face) a selection of words introduced to the English language by his plays.