A Sneak Peak into the “New” Folger Library

A Sneak Peak into the “New” Folger Library

By Larry Janezich

Posted November 6, 2023

Here’s a view of the new main entrance to the Folger Theater.  Beyond the glass doors, accessible by ramps and stairs, is the East Lobby – the site of the relocated Folger Theater box office.  An elevator and stairs will take patrons to the lobby outside the theater. 

At a media preview last Wednesday, Folger Director Michael Witmore (at right) summarized the thinking behind the $80 million Folger Library renovation: “We asked the designer to make unmistakable that this was a place you could come and visit – you’re going to feel great – you’re going to feel welcome.  Their solution was, ok, what we need to do is use the landscape to start bringing people down the garden path, to come out of out of the federal world and enter the world of story telling…. It’s all designed to bring people in…another thing that was important [was to create] a reliable space to show people what we have…rare books and mansuscripts covering the beginning of the age of print all the way through the creation of the Atlantic world….Shakespeare is still the most performed playwright on the planet.  Stories have a certain kind of power and heartbeat…and the words – specifically the words – have stayng power.” 

Following the introduction, members of the media were led to a a demonstration of the reconstructed printing press – like the one used to print Shakespeare’s First Folio – located in the new Shakespeare Exhibition Hall.  The Hall runs the length of the building with the West Lobby at the end, marked by the glass doors of the west entrance.

Caroline Duroselle-Melish, Associate Librarian for Collection Care and Development, demonstrated how Shakespeare’s First Folio was printed.  The book, published in 1623 after his death, gave us the most complete compilation of Shakespeare’s plays. There are about 900 pages in the First Folio.  The book was made by folding printed sheets of paper in half, with each sheet forming four pages.

Each of the Folios is unique owing to continuing corrections to the text as each page was printed.  Paper was too valuable to discard, so according to Witmore (center), the Folios are a random collection of corrected, semi-corrected and uncorrected pages.

Members of the media were invited to view a display of rare books in the Founder’s Room.  After the press entered the room, staffers removed paper covers which protected the four books on display from the light. 

Four rare books from the Folger collection, left to right:  Joseph Moxon’s printing manual, Titus Andronicus quarto (the equivalent of a paperback today) with this copy being the only one in the world, Robert Greene’s novel Pandosto, and  a Shakespeare First Folio: Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories & Tragedies.

Owen Williams, Associate Director, Scholarly Programs, Folger Institute talked about the books on display.  He said 750 copies of the First Folio were printed and of those, 235 known copies remain.  The Folger has 82 of them and this will be the first time the First Folios in the Folger collection will be made public.  Until now they have been kept in a vault.  The First Folio was the first publication to categorize the plays as comedy, history and tragedy.  Williams says that books are media containing stories that need to be collected, treasured, and preserved. 

This is one of the Folger’s 82 Shakespeare’s First Folios.  The Folger website provides an interactive version through which readers can page.  Here’s a link:  https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeare-in-print/first-folio/bookreader-68/

Here’s a view of the current state of Renaissance Hall – familiar to theater goers – as media members passed through it on the way to the lobby outside of the Folger Theater. 

The Winter’s Tale.  In the lobby of the theater, Folger Director of Programming and Artistic Director Karen Ann Daniels (left), introducted Director of this season’s presentation of The Winter’s Tale, Tamilla Woodard.  Woodard spoke about the significance of the play.  (Shakespeare based it on an earlier darker novel by Robert Greene, Pandosto – a copy of which was displayed as one of the rare books in the Founder’s Room.)  The Winter’s Tale was one of the 18 plays first printed in the First Folio.  Woodard called it “a tale of redemption for spring….A tale of lives almost destroyed, reconciliation after years of sacrifice, and then finding a way to move forward together.”  The play opened at the Folger on November 4 and will run through December 17.

As the media left, a staff assistant called attention to artist Anke Neumann’s handmade paper sculpture embedded with fiber optics titled Clouds of Imagination, in the East Stairwell.  The staffer noted the sculpture is “symbolic of what paper means to the Folger.” 

The Folger Library will announce its opening date by the end of 2023. For more information and to purchase tickets to The Winter’s Tale, go here:  https://www.folger.edu/