Shakespeare and his Birthplace

While visiting them this afternoon, Jan's parents produced a book which had been presented to Jan's grandmother 109 years ago. Shakespeare and his Birthplace was written by Emma Marshall. I didn't have time to read much, but it had some beautifully coloured - hand-tinted? - engravings of Stratford and its environs.


One of the first pictures to catch my eye was of a lock on the "old canal" (click on the image above for a larger version). Is this the Stratford Canal? Or is there another, older, canal which this could refer to?


The pages of the book were the thickest I've come across, being heavy card with gold leaf edges.


The book was a prize awarded by the RSPCA for an essay on "Man's Duty towards Animals" and was presented to Isabel Careless at the Crystal Palace on May 14th 1904.



updated to add detail