By: Sydney Vollmer, ARB Intern, 2015-2016
I’m not one to frequent dinner parties, seeing as my peers are assuredly drowning in some form of debt and being strangled by the long, drawn out sentences that fill the pages of their textbooks. However, if I were to be seated at any table of twelve, these Shakespearean dinner place cards would turn a regular dinner into a fancy party. No Pinterest expert I, but if it had existed when these cards came out, I’m sure they would have made their way to social media in a heartbeat.
These particular cards are antiques, but no one is stopping you from typing them out and printing them on fancy paper so you too can have an Elizabethan inspired night. Make your guests feel welcomed and appreciated with sentiments strung together from six of Shakespeare’s plays.
If thou wantest anything, and will not call, beshrew thy heart Henry IV, Part 2; V:3.
For now we sit to chat, as well as eat. Taming of the Shrew V;2.
Now good digestion wait on appetite, and health on both! Macbeth III; 4
Sit down and feed, and welcome to our table. As You Like It II; 7
To say you are welcome, were superfluous. Pericles II; 3
Here’s a gentleman, and a friend of mine. Meas. for Meas. III; 2
The labour we delight in. Macbeth II; 3
Eat, and make good cheer. Henry IV, Part 2; V;3
At first and last, the hearty welcome. Macbeth III; 4
If he had been forgotten, it had been as a gap in our great feast. Macbeth II; 1
But eat and drink as friends. Taming of the Shrew 1; 2
Welcome; Fall to. As You Like It II; 7
In 2015-2016, the world is celebrating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 1616. Joining the global effort, the Archives & Rare Books Library is featuring its modest Shakespeare holdings as well as documenting the history of Shakespeare productions in Cincinnati. To find out more about our holdings, email us at archives@ucmail.uc.edu, telephone us at 513.556.1959, or have a look at our Shakespeare web exhibit at http://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/exhibits/shakespeare400/.