Shakespeare’s real face appears in botany book

London, May 19

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A 400-year-old botany book contains what could be the only known portrait of English poet and playwright William Shakespeare made in his lifetime, an academic expert said on Tuesday.

Leading British botanist and historian Mark Griffiths made the discovery when he was researching the biography of pioneering botanist John Gerard (1545-1612), author of “The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes”, BBC reported.

“This is what Shakespeare looked like, drawn from life and in the prime of life,” he said. The 1,484-page book, published in 1598, is described as the largest single-volume work on plants that has been published in English. The title page is illustrated with an engraving by William Rogers depicting four figures, which were thought to have been imaginary.

However, Griffiths decoded decorative devices around the figures — such as heraldic motifs and emblematic flowers — to reveal their “true identities”. — IANS