WS ABC Shakespeare and Henry Folger

I have just finished reading a fascinating book about our William and Henry Folger. It is called The Millionaire and the Bard:Henry Folger's Obsessive Hunt for the First Folio. It was written by Andrea Mays. Who is Henry Folger? you may ask.
Well, Henry Clay Folger, to give this gentleman his full name was born in New York in 1857 and became the greatest collector of Shakespeariana and copies of the First Folio. Actually, and as the subtitle above states, not only did he become a major collector of this material, he became an obsessive collector.

At the age of 24, after having received a good education at Amherst College, he went to work for the Standard Oil Trust of John D. Rockefeller.  He worked very hard and in 1889 was promoted to become the chairman of the manufacturing committee. Seventeen years later in 1908, he was elected assistant treasurer of Jersey Standard and from there he continued climbing up the corporate ladder until he became the chairman of Standard Oil in 1923. He kept this post for five years and retired in 1928. He died two years later in June 1930.

          Henry Folger and his supportive wife, Emily Clara

While he was at Amherst, he began to become interested in WS and bought his first copy of the First Folio (actually, the 1685 Fourth Folio) at an auction in Manhattan for $107.50 in 1889. At this point in his career he was not obsessive, but just wanted to be the proud owner of such a worthy tome. (It should also be noted that $107.50 was worth a lot more then than today.)  He bought his first copy of the First Folio four years later in 1893.

As time went on, so his Foliomania increased and in the end, up to the time of his death, he had bought 79 copies of the First Folio. Some of these were in good condition, others had pages missing, were badly bound or were soiled in one way or another. Fortunately for Folger, he was rich. This hobby was to prove expensive. While some copies of this classic work would cost him a mere few hundred dollars, other copies, such as the Vincent/Sibthorpe one which he bought in 1903 cost him $48,732.50. (Again, think of this sum in today's value.) His most epensive purchase was in 1928 when he bought one which contained 'some imperfections' for $68,750!

Above: The Folger Library in Washington, USA.
Below: copies of the "First Folio" stored in the Library.

Today, the First Folio is the most expensive book you can buy. In October 2001, Christies sold a copy for more than SIX MILLION DOLLARS! It should also be remembered that no more than 750 copies were ever printed and about two-thirds of this number have disappeared over the passing of time. Of the approx 250 that survive, most of them are in poor condition or incomplete, and of those, Henry Clay Folger managed to buy about 30% during his lifetime. The Folger Library he founded in Washington DC continues to buy up even more copies up to today.

Engravings of  "The Merchant of Venice," "Romeo and Juliet" and "Julius Caesar" on the outer walls of the Folger Library.

Folger's collecting may sound a laudable activity, especially as they are now being preserved in a special vault in the Folger Library, Washington DC. But I have a problem with this. First of all I find it very difficult to accept that this quantity of this valuable book is concentrated in one place, however well they are stored. Secondly, they are kept hidden away from the public. You cannot just stroll into the Folger library and just ask to see a copy of the world's second most important book (after the Bible) just like that. This I believe is preventing many people from actually seeing and 'experiencing' one of the most significant contributions to our national and international culture.

I would be very pleased to receive any comments on what I have just written on Facebook or:  wsdavidyoung@gmail.com.