To celebrate the 451st birthday of playwright William Shakespeare, here are some illustrations which were inspired by the Bard, from the 1960 Leicester College of Art Diary . The students of the College collaborated on an annual diary from the 1930s to the 1960s, produced in-house by students of art, printing and typography. In this diary the autolithographs were done by Robert A Blythe.
Front cover and title page of the Diary
“What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?” – Titania, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
“O, here will I set up my everlasting rest, and shake the yoke of inauspicious stars from this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!” – Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
The College of Art Diaries are catalogued as D/025. You can see a full catalogue here.
Katharine
About Katharine Short
When I was 13 every careers questionnaire I did at school suggested I become an archivist. In rebellion I studied History of Art at Cambridge and the Courtauld Institute before giving in to the inevitable and undertaking a qualification in Archives Administration at Aberystwyth University. I worked at King’s College London Archives and the London Metropolitan Archives before becoming the Archivist here at DMU in January 2013. My role is hugely varied: answering enquiries and assisting researchers, sorting, cataloguing, cleaning and packaging archival material, managing our environmentally controlled storage areas, giving seminars, talks and tours, researching aspects of University history, liaising with potential donors and advocating for the importance of archives within the organisation. I am one of those incredibly fortunate people who can say ‘I love my job’ and really mean it.
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