American Toby Jug Museum 

William Shakespeare wall pocket produced by Lancaster and Sandland of Hanley, England, circa 1950. William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is usually considered the greatest dramatist the world has known, as well as the finest poet who has written in the English language. No other writer's plays have been produced so many times in so many countries, and no poet's verse has been so widely read. His works have been translated into more languages than any book except the Bible. Behind his incomparable creative power lay a wide acquaintance with men and women of all types in bustling Elizabethan London, as well as an amazing knowledge of a wide variety of subjects from music and law to seamanship and politics. By 1592 he was acting and writing plays in London. His most prolific period was from about 1600 to 1608, after which he spent most of his time back in Stratford, where he died in 1616.