Thread by @bodleianlibs

#HappyBirthdayShakespeare!

Today we share the story of how the Bodleian received, lost, and regained our very own copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio (which you can view at #DigitalBodleian)

Ready for some outrageous fortune? The game is afoot!

digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/inquire/Discov…+

We first got our mitts on this copy in 1623 – seven years after the world became bereft of the be-ruffed bard.

Published by #Shakespeare’s pals and peers, the First Folio preserved treasures such as Twelfth Night, The Tempest and Macbeth - which may otherwise have been lost.

Despite the Bodleian Library not accepting plays at the time (fearing that pamphlets and dramas might bring down the reputation of the library) the importance of the First Folio must have been recognized. It was chained up in Duke Humfrey’s Library, and made available to readers.

It’s worth noting that our copy is not rare! There are at least a couple of hundred more knocking around. And our own copy isn’t of the greatest quality either: the paper is inferior and the print is full of flaws.

The quality of our copy may say something about play popularity over the ages too. Romeo and Juliet has been read (almost literally) to pieces. Meanwhile, King John was left in… a somewhat better state. (Shout out to you King John fans in the house!)

In the 1660s, the Bod acquired a spiffier Third Folio, and seemingly sold the First. (Yes, we have slapped the metaphysical wrists of our predecessors.)

Centuries passed.

But, like Banquo, some things are never gone for good...

In 1905, graduate Gladwyn Turbutt brought a First Folio from his family’s Derbyshire estate to show the Bodleian’s ‘sub-librarian’. Hawk-eyed Falconer Madan recognized the Bodleian binding and chain marks - although the shelfmark had been torn from the bottom of the title page.

At the time, First Folio value was rising - costing up to £1300.

An anonymous buyer offered the Turbutt family £3000 for this copy – an unthinkable amount for the Bodleian Libraries who had never spent more than about £200 for a book!

We were, like Trinculo, in a pickle.

So the resourceful Bodleian asked for help.

With bated breath and little time left to spare, our plea was answered by more than 80 subscribers – from #Oxford and beyond - offering donations!

Having won back our precious copy, we locked it away for safekeeping.

Hilariously, the librarian kept a list of ‘notables’ who had not contributed.

#NeverUpsetALibrarian

We have archives of donor letters too – including that of the poor clergyman who requested his guinea back, having fallen on hard times.

As for that 'anonymous buyer' who competed for the copy: it turned out to be Henry Clay Folger, whose collection now stands as the @FolgerLibrary in Washington D.C!

And before you ask - we are actually very good friends now, thank you very much. :)

Thanks to the work of a restoration team, repairs to the book have been carefully managed with surgical precision, using resources such as fine Japanese paper and wheat-starch glue.

bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bodley/about-u…

In 2012 we fundraised again – this time for £20,000 to digitize the book and make it available to everybody.

Backers included Dame Vanessa Redgrave, @StephenFry and @ProfBate - who called the First Folio “the most important secular book in the history of the western world”.

In 2016, the book was showcased as part of ‘Shakespeare’s Dead’ exhibition, curated by @UniofOxford’s Simon Palfrey and @OldFortunatus, which explored the unique ways in which Shakespeare brought dying, death and the dead to life.

bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bodley/news/20…

(Here’s a brilliant video about another exhibit from Shakespeare’s Dead: Oxford artist Tom de Freston’s depiction of the haunting Dover Cliff scene from King Lear. Check out the haunting '3 ways to die' animations from Oxford primary schools too.)

youtube.com/playlist?list=…

The course of true love never did run smooth. And the Bodleian First Folio may be dog-eared and damaged, but it’s OUR First Folio.

Have too much of a good thing: see it with your own eyes.

#ShakespearesBirthday

digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/inquire/Discov…+

Thanks for joining us today!

Further reading/viewing:

@HertfordCollege Professor of Shakespeare Studies Emma Smith will tell you more at:


Emma's book on the First Folio is here: bodleianshop.co.uk/products/the-m…

#ShakespearesBirthday #ShakespeareDay