The Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill, home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, will allow the public, beginning on Friday (June 21), to view 82 copies of its “First Folio” editions of the collected works of William Shakespeare, which were printed 400 years ago and previously stored away in a refrigerated vault at the library. - REUTERS
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00:00This is the world's largest Shakespeare collection. It's housed in Washington's Folger Shakespeare
00:06Library. And starting on Friday, the public will be able to see 82 copies of the English
00:12author and poet's first folio editions printed 400 years ago.
00:17The first folio is a book that was printed in 1623. Seven years after Shakespeare died,
00:24two of the guys in his acting company decided that they should put all of his plays together
00:2936 plays together and print them all in one book.
00:33That's Dr. Peggy O'Brien, the library's director of education, who helped dig the prints out
00:38from its refrigerated vault and put the exhibition together. She said, without these first folios,
00:44many of William Shakespeare's plays would not have been known to us, from Macbeth and
00:49Julius Caesar to the Taming of the Shrew.
00:52Experts believe there are 235 authenticated copies in the world, and according to O'Brien,
00:58the Folger Shakespeare Library is home to more than a third of them.
01:02These priceless books were previously only accessible by academic researchers. Now the
01:07library wants to share them with the public in this exhibition.
01:11But not everything is behind glass.
01:16They call this the print shop, where people can try their hand at setting type, as it
01:20was done back in 1623.
01:27And the Shake Up Your Shakespeare installation gives people a chance to banter with someone
01:31else using lines from Shakespeare.
01:36O'Brien said the exhibition also hopes to spark questions and start a conversation about
01:42Shakespeare.
01:43Some people like to say, well, Shakespeare is universal. He's universally great. He relates
01:48to everybody. Well, he might relate to everybody, but he was a white guy, you know, who lived
01:56who was born in 1564, right? Is he a hero to you or an icon, or is he the title on a
02:01book that you never wanted to open? And I think lots of people have different opinions
02:06about Shakespeare.
02:07The exhibition also marks the grand reopening of the Folger Shakespeare Library after a
02:12four-year renovation.