11 January 2025
Books / Museums

Folger Shakespeare Library

Jenniferby Jennifer

Doug’s had the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. on his radar for a while, but it’s been closed the last few years for major renovations. But it’s back, baby, and we were finally able to go!

The library has the world’s largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, but also many other rare books, manuscripts, letters, etc., by other authors.

It is best known for its 82 copies of the 1623 First Folio (of which there are just 235 known copies in existence), along with more than 200 quartos of Shakespeare’s individual plays.

One of the oldest surviving Shakespeare playbills, from 1697. This one is for a production of Troilus and Cressida at Lincoln’s Inn Theatre in London. This would have been pasted outside on buildings and poles, then tossed after the performance.
A 1772 “part book” for the role of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. It contains all the lines for a single character only, without the corresponding dialogue with other characters.

The library is all thanks to Henry and Emily Folger. Henry (1857-1930) was an oil executive who began collecting Shakespeare in 1889 with the purchase of a 1685 Fourth Folio – for a paltry $107.50 (about $3,700 today). Things spiraled out of control from there.

Eventually the Folgers knew they needed a museum to house their large collection. They originally offered to sell it to John D. Rockefeller, but he was not interested. Finally the site in D.C. was chosen by the Folgers and built for their collection over several years. It opened as a museum in 1932, two years after Henry’s death, and included more than 200,000 items from the Folger’s collection.

The collection continued to expand after the Folgers’ deaths, and today it includes more than 250,000 books and 60,000 manuscripts. The acquisitions are far beyond Shakespeare, and range wildly in subject matter, including literature, politics, religion, technology, and more. They have one of the world’s largest collections of early English books, and a huge collection of items related to performance history (playbills, costumes, props, etc.).

The cover photo to this post features 2 of the 1623 First Folios.

Swoon!!!  It’s a first edition of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, 1813, published as a three-volume set. These have their original boards, making them very rare.
The 1570 “De Vere Bible”. Some people believe that Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford is the true author of Shakespeare’s plays. Some support for this theory comes from this Bible, which has handwritten notes and markings that are similar to language used in Shakespeare’s plays.
Costume design for Earle Hymann as Othello, 1970, for the production at the Repertory Theatre in St. Louis.
“The Folgers were interested in Shakespeare’s lasting influence on literature. This small notebook contains quotations and observations written down by the novelist George Eliot who was born Mary Ann Evans. She recorded quotations from Shakespeare while writing her classic novel Middlemarch.” 1868.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, 1859. A first edition inscribed by Dickens to George Eliot. Interestingly, the Folgers preferred “imperfect” books – those with marginalia and other markings, which gave them character and brought them to life.
Medieval Illuminated Missal from 1490. “This richly illustrated manuscript is a Missal – the prayer book containing the prayers, important chants, responses, and instructions for the celebration of Mass in the Roman Catholic Church.” Made by hand!!
The Works of Confucius, first European printing, 1687. The hand-embroidered silk binding was commissioned to communicate the volume’s importance.
The museum had an interesting exhibit showing some of the works of Esther Inglis, a woman who lived from around 1570 to 1624. She created miniature hand-written and -illustrated books, with elaborately stitched covers and bindings. This one was for Prince Henry of Great Britain in 1612.
Egyptian Book of the Dead, 100 BCE. Designed to be place in the grave to accompany its occupant on their journey to the afterlife.
The “Reading Room” of the Folger Shakespeare Library, where researchers can examine rare books and manuscripts from the Folger collection. It is meant to evoke a Tudor/Elizabethan hall.
Still inside the The “Reading Room.” Anyone can make an appointment to research here, you don’t need to be credentialed in some way.
An “English” Great Hall inside the Folger Shakespeare Library, fashioned as a 16th century long gallery which, in Elizabethan times, would have been used for socializing and displaying art.
The Elizabethan Theatre inside the Folger Shakespeare Library. It was the first permanent Elizabethan theatre built in the United States, designed to resemble the courtyard of a 16th century English inn.

Jennifer

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