"The Trevelyon Miscellany of 1608" is one of the Folger Shakespeare Library's greatest treasures. Aside from "Shakespeare's First Folio", it is the only book in the collection to have had an entire exhibition devoted to it, in 2004. Its five hundred and ninety-four oversized pages depict life in Shakespeare's England in all of its brilliant complexities - from the mythical to the mundane, the poetical to the practical, the religious to the secular. Thomas Trevelyon, the compiler, was a skilled scribe and pattern-maker who had access to a stunning variety of English and European woodcuts, engravings, broadsides, almanacs and emblem books which he transformed from small monochrome images into large and colourful feasts for the eyes.Ostensibly created for the entertainment, education and edification of his friends and family, Trevelyon's miscellany is a lifetime achievement that continues to delight and mystify modern audiences, with its familiar scenes of domesticity and husbandry intertwined with epic Protestant and political epitomes: accounts of the rulers of England and the Gunpowder Plot, descriptions of local fairs, the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge and astronomy according to Ptolemy, illustrations of the nine muses and the seven deadly sins, of Old Testament history and household proverbs and whimsical flowers, alphabets and embroidery patterns. This massive volume provides an exciting and unparalleled snapshot of the passions, concerns and everyday interests of a highly talented London commoner and this reason is of significant scholarly and general interest.It is a monumental work that was intended to be both studied and enjoyed, its pages turned and savoured. For the first time since its arrival at the Folger Shakespeare Library in 1945, a generous gift from Lessing Rosenwald, this is possible thanks to state-of-the-art conservations an high resolution digitisation. This limited edition, full-size facsimile of the entire manuscript is being produced to celebrate Folger Shakespeare Library's 75th anniversary in 2007.It complements the only other extant work by Thomas Trevelyon, his "Great Book" (1616), parts of which were published in facsimile for members of the Roxburghe Club in London in 2002. It is printed on archival paper, Smythe sewn and bound in cloth-wrapped boards with a reinforced spine and full-colour dust jacket. In addition to the 594 pages illustrated by Trevelyon, the volume includes an introduction by Dr Heather Wolf, Curator of Manuscripts, Folger Shakespeare Library; and indexes to poetry first lines, scripture, subjects, images and sources.