• Shakespeare’s First Folio goes on display at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich from tomorrow. The display is part of a national celebration of the 400th anniversary of the folio’s publication. Shakespeare’s First Folio was published in 1623, seven years after the playwright’s death. Some 235 copies are known to survive with 50 remaining in the UK. The version on display – the Dulwich College Folio, which includes the Comedies and Histories (but lack the Tragedies), is believed to have been acquired by the college in 1686 from the estate of William Cartwright, a bookseller and actor who performed with the King’s Company and is known to have played Brabantio in Othello and Falstaff in Henry IV Part I and Part II. The two volumes feature handwritten notes, ink and water stains, and burn holes, suggesting they were well-used before the college acquired them. The Tempest and the Thames can be seen until 24th September. Admission is free. For more, see www.rmg.co.uk/folio-400.
• London’s fog and its reflection in Charles Dickens’ writings are the subject of a new exhibition opening at the Charles Dickens Museum in Bloomsbury. A Great and Dirty City: Dickens and the London Fog explores how the fog affected Dickens’ work, his health and that of his family, and how London has endeavoured to mitigate the problem of air pollution over the past couple of centuries. Among the items on display are the hearthstone Dickens laid in front of the fireplace in the Drawing Room, the fire poker from Dickens’ dining room at Gad’s Hill Place (his home from 1856 until his death in 1870), original first edition parts of Dickens’ ‘foggiest’ novel Bleak House, an original pen and wash illustration by Frederick Barnard depicting Martin Chuzzlewit, Mary Graham, and Mark Tapley, and, a letter from Dickens to his sister-in-law Helen Dickens in which he writes about his brother Alfred’s “inflammation in the region of the lungs” which is dated on 16th July, 1860 – just 11 days before Alfred’s death. Runs until 22nd October. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://dickensmuseum.com.
• Forty of Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot’s works have been brought together for a new exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Berthe Morisot: Shaping Impressionism, which opens tomorrow, is the first major UK exhibition of the renowned Impressionist since 1950 and features many works never seen before. Highlights include Eugène Manet on the Isle of Wight (1875) – painted while Morisot was on honeymoon in England, Self-Portrait (1885) – which will appear alongside Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s Young Woman (c.1769) from Dulwich Picture Gallery’s collection, Apollo revealing his divinity to the shepherdess Issé, after François Boucher (1892), In the Apple Tree (1890) and Julie Manet with her Greyhound Laerte (1893). Runs until 10th September. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk.
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conservationist and influential figure in the Arts and Crafts movement” as well as being the father of world famous writer Rudyard Kipling – opens at the V&A in South Kensington on Saturday. The exhibition is the first exploring the life and work of Kipling (1837-1911) who campaigned for the preservation of Indian crafts as well as being a craftsman himself (his terracotta panels can still be seen on the exterior of the V&A) and an illustrator of his son’s books. Lockwood Kipling: Arts and Crafts in the Punjab and London features paintings of the Indian section of the 1851 Great Exhibition as well as objects which were on display (the exhibition was visited by Kipling while a teenager), Kipling’s sketches of Indian craftspeople observed during his many years living in India as well as objects he selected for the V&A while there, designs and illustrations for books, and furniture he helped his former student architect Bhai Ram Singh design for royal residences Bagshot Park and Osborne. The free exhibition, a collaboration between the V&A and the Bard Graduate Centre in New York, runs until 2nd April (it will be on display at the Bard Graduate Center, New York, from 15th September this year). For more, see 
Marking the centenary of the battle, Jutland 1916: WWI’s Greatest Sea Battle explores the battle itself (which claimed the lives of more than 8,500 as the British Grand Fleet met the German High Seas Fleet in what neither side could claim as a decisive victory) as well as its lead-up, aftermath and the experience of those serving on British and German warships through paintings and newspaper clippings, photographs, ship models and plans, sailor-made craft work and medals. Among the objects on display is a 14 foot long shipbuilder’s model of the HMS Queen Mary, which, one of the largest battle cruisers involved,was destroyed with only 18 survivors of the 1,266 crew. Among the personal stories told in the exhibition, meanwhile, is that of boy bugler William Robert Walker, of Kennington, who served on the HMS Calliope and, severely wounded during the battle, was later visited by King George V
• The largest exhibition ever mounted about the life of 17th century diarist Samuel Pepys opens at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich tomorrow. Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire, Revolution features more than 200 paintings and objects brought together from museums, galleries and private collections which explore the life of the famous diarist (depicted here in a bust outside the Guildhall Art Gallery) against the backdrop of the tumultuous events of Stuart London, from the execution London of King Charles I in 1649 through the Great Fire of London and the Glorious Revolution on 1688. Objects on show include the famous painting, Portrait of Charles II in Coronation Robes, objects connected to Pepys’ mistresses including one of his love letters to Louise de Kéroualle (aka ‘Fubbs’ or ‘chubby’) and other personal items such as a lute owned by Pepys. The exhibition is accompanied by a series of events including Pepys Show Late: Party like it’s 1669 (26th November) and a series of walks and talks. Admission charge applies. The exhibition runs until 28th March. For more, see 
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