Here are four stories of people who collected material relating to Shakespeare and other early modern dramatists.
Their stories illustrate how different people – scholars, collectors and writers – have responded to Shakespeare
over four centuries, and how his reputation has changed over that time.
To these collectors we owe the preservation of the items featured in this resource. Their collections
are now held in the National Library of Scotland and the Library of the University Edinburgh.
Visit each collector’s page to watch a short film about them, see some related images, and find out more about their lives.