Event: Mon, 15/02/2016 - Fri, 22/04/2016

This exhibition commemorates the lives, the work and the reputations of two English writers living in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries: Ben Jonson (1572-1637) and Thomas Nashe (1567-c.1601). We mark in particular the publication of Jonson’s collected Works in 1616, and anticipate the 450^th Anniversary of Nashe’s birth next year.

Nashe was a member of St John’s College, and there is a long-held tradition that Jonson was too. Both made a living as versatile men of letters, composing works in different styles and for different audiences, searching all the while for patronage and fame.  While Nashe died young, and in relative obscurity, Jonson was hailed as one of the greatest writers of his age.  Widely admired, he influenced the next generation of English poets and playwrights and was buried in Westminster Abbey. However, the reputations of both men have endured. Today their works are studied by academics around the world, and still feature in popular anthologies.

Drawing on the rich resources of the Library’s special collections, the exhibition features early editions of both authors’ works, archival records, manuscript commonplace books, and later material bearing testament to the enduring appeal of their writing. Displayed alongside original sixteenth- and seventeenth-century works, more recent highlights include the Johnian composer Robin Orr’s musical setting of Nashe’s poetry, and Sir Cecil Beaton’s programme for the Marlowe Society’s production of Volpone in Cambridge in 1923, signed by the cast.

Open to the public Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm in the Library Exhibition Area. (Closed Good Friday and Easter Monday.)