List No. 109
HENSLOWE’S INVENTORY
Philip Henslowe
March 10th, 1598
Born in the 1550s, Philip Henslowe was a famous theatre owner whose establishments, particularly The Rose, were in direct competition with William Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Between 1592 and 1603 he kept a record of his financial dealings, box office takings, etc., in what is now known as Henslowe’s Diary – a historically invaluable document that throws light on the industry of that period like no other. Featured in that diary is this wonderful Elizabethan inventory of props relating to the Admiral’s Men, Henslowe’s resident performing company for many years.
The inventory taken of all the properties for my Lord Admiral’s Men on the 10th of March 1598
Item: 1 rock, 1 cage, 1 tomb, 1 Hell mouth.
Item: 1 tomb of Guido, 1 tomb of Dido, 1 bedstead.
Item: 8 lances, 1 pair of stairs for Phaeton.
Item: 2 steeples, and 1 chime of bells, and 1 beacon.
Item: 1 hecfor for the play of Phaeton, the limbs dead.
Item: 1 globe, and 1 golden scepter; 3 clubs.
Item: 2 marchpanes, and the city of Rome.
Item: 1 golden fleece; 2 rackets; 1 bay tree.
Item: 1 wooden hatchet; 1 leather hatchet.
Item: 1 wooden canopy; old Mahomet’s head.
Item: 1 lion skin; 1 bear’s skin; and Phaeton’s limbs, and Phaeton chariot; and Argus’ head.
Item: Neptune’s fork and garland.
Item: 1 crozier’s staff; Kent’s wooden leg.
Item: Iris’s head, and rainbow; 1 little altar.
Item: 8 vizards; Tamburlaine’s bridle; 1 wooden mattock.
Item: Cupid’s bow, and quiver; the cloth of the sun and moon.
Item: 1 boar’s head and Cerberus’s 3 heads.
Item: 1 caduceus; 2 moss banks, and 1 snake.
Item: 2 fans of feathers; Belin Dun’s stable; 1 tree of golden apples; Tantalus’s tree; 9 iron targets.
Item: 1 copper target, and 17 foils.
Item: 4 wooden targets; 1 greave armour.
Item: 1 sign for Mother Redcap; 1 buckler.
Item: Mercury’s wings; Tasso’s picture; 1 helmet with a dragon; 1 shield with 3 lions; 1 elm bowl.
Item: 1 chain of dragons; 1 gilt spear.
Item: 2 coffins; 1 bull’s head; and 1 vulture.
Item: 3 tumbrils, 1 dragon in Faustus.
Item: 1 lion; 2 lion heads; 1 great horse with his legs; 1 sack-butt.
Item: 1 wheel and frame in the Siege of London.
Item: 1 pair of wrought gloves.
Item: 1 pope’s mitre.
Item: 3 Imperial crowns; 1 plain crown.
Item: 1 ghost’s crown; 1 crown with a sun.
Item: 1 frame for the heading in Black John.
Item: 1 black dog.
Item: 1 cauldron for the Jew.
