Nearly 500 of the books in the new research centre are originals from the 1500s and 1600s, and anyone can book a morning or afternoon visit.
The Globe Theatre has opened a new library and research centre on Bankside to the public. Its shelves hold over 6,000 books, along with a set of rare early printed works from the Renaissance.
The theatre calls the collection “the closest surviving resemblance to Shakespeare’s bookshelf”. Anyone can reserve a morning or afternoon visit on the Globe’s website.
The centre’s main space is the Audre D. Carlin Reading Room. Its books focus on Shakespeare and on the writing and culture of his era, as well as on how performance has developed around the world.
Older material is kept in the John Wolfson Rare Book Room. Close to 500 of its works are originals printed in the 1500s and 1600s. Plays and poems share the room with novellas and with works of history, philosophy and religion.
A lecture theatre and an archive store kept at a controlled climate complete the building. In the foyer, glass cases display objects drawn from the theatre’s own holdings. Even before the public opening, the rooms were in use: the Globe says school groups and university students have already come through in their hundreds.
Visitors can see the Globe’s performance archive by appointment, and there is also an online search. The archive keeps paperwork created as Globe shows came together, plus digital recordings of productions and of the talks and workshops staged there.
Allies and Morrison, the practice behind the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, designed the centre. Beardwell Construction built it.
Research has been central to the Globe from the start. Its founder, Sam Wanamaker, set up the studies that guided how Shakespeare’s 1599 playhouse was rebuilt. Scholars based at the Globe still collaborate with artists, and the theatre runs the Shakespeare Centre London in partnership with King’s College London.
Yes. Anyone can reserve a morning or afternoon visit on the Globe's website.
Over 6,000 books on Shakespeare, the writing and culture of his era and the history of performance. The John Wolfson Rare Book Room holds close to 500 original works printed in the 1500s and 1600s.
Yes, by appointment. There is also an online search of the archive.
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