The University of Colorado Boulder, recently named Colorado’s host for the First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare national tour, announces the exhibition is open to the public at the CU Art Museum August 8-31, 2016.
First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare will tour all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, beginning in January 2016. A full list of host sites and tour dates is available at www.folger.edu.
The First Folio opens to the most quoted line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “to be or not to be.” A multi-panel exhibition exploring Shakespeare’s impact, then and now, will be accompanied by digital content and interactive activities.
“This exhibit is an opportunity to bring the campus’s expertise together with community talents and the creative energies of students to explore the world of Shakespeare,” said Deborah Hollis, an associate professor from University Libraries at CU-Boulder. “The citizens of Colorado will be in for a treat with musical, artistic and literary performances and public lectures.”
Creative programming for all ages will explore topics such as comic books, Elizabethan food, and the music, art and science of Shakespeare’s time. The First Folio exhibit and additional programming are being planned by the CU Art Museum, the University Libraries, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival and faculty from English, history and theatre and dance.
The First Folio is the first complete collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, published in 1623 seven years after his death. Compiled by two of Shakespeare’s fellow actors, it preserves 36 of Shakespeare’s plays. Without it, we would not have 18 of those plays, including Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, The Tempest and Antony and Cleopatra.
“The majority of the work produced by the Colorado Shakespeare Festival is from the First Folio and we are thrilled at the prospect of having it on campus,” said Timothy Orr, producing artistic director for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. “To be able to see the original source of our work, and learn more about it from our partnering campus colleagues, will be really exciting.”
Thanks to the First Folio, generations have experienced Shakespeare’s lasting influence on language, culture, theater, music, education and more. There are 233 known copies in the world today, with 82 copies held by the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. One of the most valuable printed books in the world, a First Folio sold for $6.2 million in 2001 at Christie’s and another one for $5.2 million in 2006 in London. It originally sold for one British pound (20 shillings)—about $200 today.
“At the Folger Shakespeare Library, we’re looking forward to taking the books out of our vaults in 2016 and on the road,” said library Director Michael Witmore. “We’re excited to see the many different ways that communities across the country will be celebrating Shakespeare—in performances, poetry slams, lectures and more.”
First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor, and by the generous support of Google.org and Vinton and Sigrid Cerf. Opportunities are available to sponsor this major exhibition and the Folger’s other Wonder of Will programs commemorating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Learn more at www.folger.edu.