ANN ARBOR—In preparation for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) return to Ann Arbor this March, the University of Michigan’s Special Collections Library has mounted a new exhibit entitled “Illustrating Shakespeare.”Artwork is by Leonard Baskin. (Copyright Leonard Baskin. Used with permission.) The exhibit draws from the Library’s rich Shakespeare Collection, providing a historical overview of book illustrations of scenes and characters from Shakespeare’s plays. Included are materials that emphasize the changing interpretations of the plays over the last 300 years, as well as the relationships between illustrations and dramatic text. Items range from the earliest illustrated edition of Shakespeare’s plays (1709), and engravings based on the Boydell Gallery of late 18th century paintings, to 20th century illustrations such as Salvador Dali’s “Macbeth” and Leonard Baskin’s “Titus Andronicus.” To celebrate the opening of the Shakespeare exhibit, a lecture by curator Nancy S. Reinhardt will be held at 4 p.m. Feb. 7. in the Special Collections Library. Her lecture will explore the major themes of the exhibit, emphasizing the interplay between the text, its reading or performance and the design or illustration of its published pages. Reinhardt is a visiting associate professor in the University’s English Department and curator of Theatre, Film and Television in the Special Collections Library. She has previously been assistant dean and rare-books bibliographer at Harvard University and head of Special Collections at Colby College. In addition to mounting many exhibits at both Harvard and Colby College, she has published articles on theatre and book illustration and taught courses on English literature, theatre, and book history. Four guided tours of the exhibit will be offered when the RSC is in residence. One-hour tours will be offered at 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. March 3 and March 6. The exhibit, lecture and tours are free and open to the public. The exhibit will be available for viewing through March 16. The Special Collections Library is part of the University Library system and is on the 7th floor of the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, on the campus of the University of Michigan. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m.-noon on Saturday. For more information about the exhibit or the Special Collections Library, call (734) 764-9377 or see the Web site at www.lib.umich.edu/spec-coll/. To learn more about the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Michigan residency, visit: www.umich.edu/pres/rsc/