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Shakespeare & Beyond

The First Folio tour comes to an end

The final First Folio to return home to the Folger after the 2016 First Folio tour
The final First Folio to return home to the Folger after the 2016 First Folio tour

A champagne toast welcomed the return of the last First Folio to the Folger, completing a national tour in which 18 of the Folger’s 82 First Folios traveled to all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC, in 2016. This traveling exhibition, First Folio! The Book That Gave Us Shakespeare, was a centerpiece of The Wonder of Will, the Folger’s commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

The final First Folio to come home, from its two-month stay at The Parthenon in Nashville, TN, goes by the nickname “The Complete Set Copy,” since it was acquired by the Folger in 1906 as part of a set that included the Second, Third, and Fourth Folios.

This First Folio has now taken its place alongside its 17 siblings, plus one “understudy” copy, in an exhibition called First Folio! Shakespeare’s American Tour, the largest ever assembly of First Folios in one venue. (The First Folio that is on permanent display to the public at the Folger brings the total to 20.) The First Folios tell the story of the half million people they met along the tour, the unique attributes of each book, and the overwhelming relevance of the plays they include.

For the exhibition, “The Complete Set Copy” is open to Cymbeline, one of 18 plays in the First Folio that appeared there for the first time in print. Without this book that gave us Shakespeare, published in 1623, those 18 plays could have been lost.

Comments

Thank you for bringing it to Manchester, New Hampshire and America! The U. S. of A. became a better Country because of it.

G. Duane Howard — January 11, 2017