The University of Colorado Boulder, named the state’s host site for the national tour of “First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare,” announces the exhibition is open to the public from August 9-31 at the CU Art Museum. Provided by the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. the First Folio will tour all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico during 2016 and early 2017.
The First Folio is opened 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, is accompanied by digital content and interactive activities.
Creative programming for all ages 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 theater 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, the public would not have 18 of those plays, including Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, The Tempest and Anthony and Cleopatra.
Because of First Folio, generations have experienced Shakespeare’s lasting influence on language, culture, theater, music, and education. There are 233 known copies in the world today, with 82 copies held by Washington’s Folger Shakespeare Library. 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 for $5.2 million in 2006 in London. It originally sold for one British pound (20 shillings) – about $200 today.
“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.”
For a full list of events, visit colorado.edu/shakespeareatcu.