![]() The City Corporation has launched Destination City, which will transform the Square Mile’s leisure offer, creating a leading destination for UK and international visitors, workers, and residents to enjoy. The City of London Corporation, which owns and manages Guildhall Library, is the fourth largest funder of heritage and cultural activities in the UK and invests over £130m every year. “I share my library colleagues’ pride in our ownership of the book, which has been conserved by the City Corporation as a valuable heritage asset for the benefit of future generations.” ![]() “The First Folio is a truly remarkable book and for five precious hours, everyone will be given the rare opportunity to see it up close at Guildhall Library, as part of our ‘First Folio 400’ celebrations. Guildhall Library is situated around half-a-mile from the location of Jaggard’s Print House, where the First Folio was printed, and opposite St Mary Aldermanbury Garden, where Heminge and Condell are buried and commemorated with a memorial to the book, featuring a bust of Shakespeare.Ĭhair of the City of London Corporation’s Culture, Heritage, and Libraries Committee, Wendy Hyde, said: The book was transferred to Guildhall Library in 1913, following the closure of the London Institution in 1912. It is believed that the City Corporation’s copy was purchased in around 1760 by one-time Prime Minister, William Petty Fitzmaurice, after which it was bought by the London Institution at the sale of his library in 1806. Published in an edition of around 750 copies on 8 November 1623 – seven years after Shakespeare’s death - and widely regarded as one of the most valuable books in the literary world, the First Folio brought together 36 plays in one volume.Įxperts on Shakespeare’s life and work have asserted that, if two of his friends and fellow actors, John Heminge and Henry Condell, had not gathered the plays together for the First Folio, half of them, including Macbeth, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, The Tempest, and Antony and Cleopatra would have been lost forever. Two small and original copies (‘Quartos’) of Henry IV Part One and Othello will also be on display, next to a replica copy of the First Folio that visitors will be invited to look through. The City of London Corporation, which owns the library and the First Folio, will display the book on Monday 24 April for a limited period (10.30am to 3.30pm), accompanied by a 10-minute introductory talk about the First Folio given on the hour throughout the day. "It’s a tremendous moment for Arts at UBC.One of the world’s finest copies of the First Folio will go on rare public display at Guildhall Library for one day next week, as part of its 400th anniversary celebrations. Gregory Mackie. "It’s important to history, culture, and literature for so many people." “This is something the whole community can get excited about and can rally around: the first printing of almost half of Shakespeare’s plays that would have been lost were it not for this book," says Dr. 15, For All Time: The Shakespeare First Folio will display the famous book along with other pieces of Shakespeare's portfolio. “We thought it was very appropriate that we partner with the Vancouver Art Gallery and Bard on the Beach to present it to the Vancouver community before it ultimately comes to UBC to support research and teaching.” “This is really a gift, not just to UBC, but also to the city of Vancouver and to the many people in the region who appreciate Shakespeare,” says Kalsbeek. Different departments at the university already are planning a digital project around the book, including a virtual reality version.īut before all that, it's on display for the public to go see. “Adding a First Folio to the UBC Library collection represents a milestone in terms of our development as both a library and as a university.”Īs part of UBC's mandate there will be public access to the book. “The First Folio is a cornerstone of English literature and with this donation, we are able to bring this cultural treasure into public ownership,” says Katherine Kalsbeek, head of the library's rare book collection, in a press release. It contains the earliest printings of plays like The Tempest and Twelfth Night. It is considered the most authoritative of the early printings of his work. The book contains 36 of the Bard's 38 known plays and was compiled and edited by Shakespeare's friends, fellow playwrights and actors seven years after he died. Printed in 1623, there are only 235 left in the world this one is only the second to come to Canada. The UBC library has been gifted a rare and important book: a first edition version of William Shakespeare’s Comedies Histories and Tragedies. Vancouverites know the Bard on the Beach, but now they can see the Bard on the Table.
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