The first biography of Henry and Emily Folger, who acquired the
largest and finest collection of Shakespeare in the world. In
Collecting Shakespeare, Stephen H. Grant recounts the American
success story of Henry and Emily Folger. Shortly after marrying in
1885, the Folgers started buying, cataloging, and storing all
manner of items about Shakespeare and his era. Emily earned a
master's degree in Shakespeare studies. The frugal couple worked
passionately as a tight-knit team during the Gilded Age, financing
their hobby with the fortune Henry earned as president of Standard
Oil Company of New York, where he was a trusted associate of John
D. Rockefeller Sr. While a number of American universities offered
to house the collection, the Folgers wanted to give it to the
American people. Afraid the price of antiquarian books would soar
if their names were revealed, they secretly acquired prime real
estate on Capitol Hill near the Library of Congress. They
commissioned the design and construction of an elegant building
with a reading room, public exhibition hall, and the Elizabethan
Theatre. The Folger Shakespeare Library was dedicated on the Bard's
birthday on April 23, 1932. The library houses 82 First Folios,
277,000 books, and 60,000 manuscripts. It welcomes more than
100,000 visitors a year and provides professors, scholars, graduate
students, and researchers from around the world with access to the
collections. It is also a vibrant center in Washington, DC, for
cultural programs, including theater, concerts, lectures, and
poetry readings. With unprecedented access to the primary sources
within the Folger vault, Grant draws on interviews with surviving
Folger relatives and visits to 35 related archives in the United
States and in Britain to create a portrait of the remarkable couple
who ensured that Shakespeare would have a beautiful home in
America.
General
Imprint: |
Johns Hopkins University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
September 2023 |
Authors: |
Stephen H. Grant
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 18mm (L x W x T) |
Pages: |
264 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-4214-4809-1 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-4214-4809-2 |
Barcode: |
9781421448091 |
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