Thomas North's 1555 Travel Journal

Dennis McCarthy is an independent scholar and author of Here Be Dragons: How the Study of Animal and Plant Distributions Revolutionized Our Views of Life and Earth, as well as other titles.June Schlueter is Charles A. Dana Professor Emerita of English at Lafayette College and author of The Album Amicorum and the London of Shakespeare’s Time, as well as other titles.

• Chapter 1 The JourneyChapter 2 The Journal and Its AuthorChapter 3 From Italy to ShakespeareChapter 4 Revisiting History: North’s Sources—and Shakespeare’sChapter 5 Henry VIII: Transplanting a Marian History PlayChapter 6 The Winter’s Tale: An Homage to Queen MaryChapter 7 The Winter’s Tale and MantuaChapter 8 Further Thoughts on The Winter’s TaleEpilogue: The Lost PlaywrightThe Transcript

In a fascinating and challenging edition of a manuscript travel journal recording an embassy to Italy in 1555, they argue that this work can be attributed to the twenty-year-old North. We should all be grateful for this edition of the travel journal, which will be useful and is based on some impressive detective work.