About 300 books including incunabula and early editions of classical texts, plus limited edition reprints of celebrated English writers, mostly published in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

2457 plays published in France between 1701 and 1840. They include tragedies, comedies, historical dramas, vaudevilles, comic operas and operas.

About 440 books published by William Pickering between 1820 and 1854 including reprints of classics and 17th-century Anglican religious works, plus contemporary writers of his time.

975 books, including many relating to the essayist and poet Charles Lamb and his circle and books by or relating to the poet Edward Thomas.

1,066 Japanese books, nearly all published in the 20th century. They mostly relate to Japanese literature and include a large number of novels and also poetry, plays, essays, biographies of writers, literary history and critical works.

Join us for the third illustrated Shakespeare lecture and discover the objects and stories that reveal how Shakespeare made landfall in Australia.  

Dr Kate Flaherty, senior Lecturer in English and Drama at ANU, and actors from Bell Shakespeare uncovered one of the most amusing and successful literary hoaxes of all time.

Explore the crossover of two masters of their crafts with these beautiful sketches and designs.

See Dr Kate Flaherty and actors from Bell Shakespeare explore the link between the books that inspired Shakespeare and Shakespeare's own work.

Hear Oxford academic Professor Emma Smith, the world’s leading Shakespeare scholar, discuss Shakespeare’s First Folio as part of its 400 year anniversary.

Celebrate William Shakespeare's birthday with Shakespearean gems from the National Library's rare books collections.

Over 10,000 books, pamphlets and issues of periodicals, published between the late 16th and mid-20th century. The main strength is English literature, particularly of the 18th century.