Podcasts about first folios

As part of the events in 2016 surrounding the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death, Dialogue host Marcia Franklin talks with Professor Eric Rasmussen of the University of Nevada, Reno. Rasmussen, the chair of the English department at UNR, is a pre-eminent Shakespeare scholar and an expert on the First Folio, which was published in 1623 and includes almost all of the Bard of Avon's plays. Rasmussen, also the author of a 1000-page catalog called The Shakespeare First Folio, worked with a team to locate 232 surviving copies of the First Folio, 72 more than were originally thought to exist. An estimated 800 were originally printed. There are now 235 known copies. The group went on to painstakingly document the condition of every page of as many copies as it could examine. Rasmussen is also the author of The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios, in which he includes some of the more colorful stories surrounding the various copies of the 900-plus page book, both ones that have been found and those that are still missing. Franklin talks with the professor about his interest in the First Folio, how he authenticates the new copies he finds, some of the unique aspects of the books, what he's learned studying them, and what he thinks about the various authorship theories regarding Shakespeare's works. The interview took place at the Humanities Institute at Boise State University, one of 52 locations in the United States chosen by the Folger Shakespeare Library to display the First Folio in 2016. Originally Aired: 09/09/2016

Want to support the podcast? Join our Patreon or buy us a coffee. As an independent podcast, Shakespeare Anyone? is supported by listeners like you. Have you ever wondered where those colorful Folger paperback editions of Shakespeare plays got their name? Or how the Folger Shakespeare Library came to have the largest collection of First Folios in the world? Or if there was any relation to the coffee brand?  In today's episode, we are going to be exploring the life of Henry Folger, his wife Emily Jordan Folger, their quest for copies of the First Folio, and how their collection forever changed our modern understanding of Shakespeare and the early modern period.  Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp. Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander. For updates: join our email list, follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, sending us a virtual tip via our tipjar, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod. Find additional links mentioned in the episode in our Linktree. Works referenced: Grant, Stephen H. Collecting Shakespeare: The Story of Henry and Emily Folger. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014 Mays, Andrea E. The Millionaire and the Bard: Henry Folger's Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare's First Folio. Simon & Schuster, 2016.  "Purchasing Power Today of a US Dollar Transaction in the Past," MeasuringWorth, 2025. Staff, Folger Shakesepeare Library. “Andrea Mays on the Millionaire and the Bard.” Folger Shakespeare Library, 18 Nov. 2015, www.folger.edu/podcasts/shakespeare-unlimited/shakespeare-unlimited-episode-36/. Staff, NPR. “A Fortune in Folios: One Man's Hunt for Shakespeare's First Editions.” NPR, NPR, 14 May 2015, www.npr.org/2015/05/14/406470976/a-fortune-in-folios-one-man-s-hunt-for-shakespeare-s-first-editions. Witmore, Michael. "Henry Clay Folger." Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Jun. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/money/Henry-Clay-Folger. Accessed 5 March 2025.

The story of the Folger library and more of the people who have owned First Folios, including His Majesty King Charles III, who makes a guest appearance.  The extraordinary stories of Shakespeare's First Folio uncovered by RSC Artistic Director Emeritus, Greg Doran. The second part of Greg's journey tells the story of Hemminges and Condell, turns up some of the printing errors that crept into the first folio, and explores traces of long-gone owners across some of the copies.  Four hundred years after it was first published, Greg ‘One of the great Shakespearians of his generation' (Sunday Times), explores the remarkable history of the Folio, arguably the most famous secular text in the world. Travelling to libraries, museums and private collections in 10 countries, he visits as many as possible of the surviving copies of the First Folio in existence today. This episode contains some strong language.  Music composed by Paul Englishby

Nau mai haere mai - Welcome to a session from the Reading Room of Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero, Central City Library, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. In this podcast, we are delighted to share the recording of Greg Doran's visit to the Auckland First Folio in June 2023. Greg Doran, artistic director emeritus of the Royal Shakespeare Company is on a tour of surviving first folios sponsored by the British Council. https://www.britishcouncil.org.nz He comes to us after visiting First Folios in Japan and most recently Sydney, at the State Library of New South Wales. Next stop Cape Town. Our First Folio has travelled the furthest from the Print House in London, some 11,386 miles in fact. The Folio has had an active life, most recently getting some attention from David Ashman, our Preservation Manager. The Folio can be handled more easily post-treatment. The tangible evidence of the preservation treatment (including leather shavings and “gutter sweeping”) is now stored in a bespoke archival box with the Folio itself. In this recording, Greg meets our unique annotated Folio and talks with an interested party – including retired rare books librarian Georgia Prince who curated the exhibition Shakespeare in his time which featured 17th century rare books from the Heritage Collections. We also had a moment with the Shakespeare bronze, affectionately referred to as the ‘Beadle bust' – named for the sculptor Paul Beadle. The bust entered stage left during our discussion – returning to its plinth after a stint on the Ground Floor of our busy public library. Let's give Greg the floor to share his close reading! Listen to David Ashman's preservation treatment: https://soundcloud.com/auckland-libraries/sets/celebrating-shakespeare Shakespeare in his time – 2016 curator talks: https://heritageetal.blogspot.com/2016/06/shakespeare-in-his-time-curator-talks.html The Beadle bust: https://heritageetal.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-shakespeare-beadle-bust-origin-and.html

As my own small contribution to the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the printing of the first folio of Shakespeare's plays in this third and final episode of a short mini-series I look at the printing and selling of the First Folio and the afterlife of some of the copies as they travelled the globe. This includes some history on the greatest collector of First Folios and the creation of the Folger Library.Support the podcast at:www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.comwww.ko-fi.com/thoetpwww.patreon.com/thoetpThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

As part of the events in 2016 surrounding the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death, Dialogue host Marcia Franklin talks with Professor Eric Rasmussen of the University of Nevada, Reno. Rasmussen, the chair of the English department at UNR, is a pre-eminent Shakespeare scholar and an expert on the First Folio, which was published in 1623 and includes almost all of the Bard of Avon's plays. Rasmussen, also the author of a 1000-page catalog called The Shakespeare First Folio, worked with a team to locate 232 surviving copies of the First Folio, 72 more than were originally thought to exist. An estimated 800 were originally printed. There are now 235 known copies. The group went on to painstakingly document the condition of every page of as many copies as it could examine. Rasmussen is also the author of The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios, in which he includes some of the more colorful stories surrounding the various copies of the 900-plus page book, both ones that have been found and those that are still missing. Franklin talks with the professor about his interest in the First Folio, how he authenticates the new copies he finds, some of the unique aspects of the books, what he's learned studying them, and what he thinks about the various authorship theories regarding Shakespeare's works. The interview took place at the Humanities Institute at Boise State University, one of 52 locations in the United States chosen by the Folger Shakespeare Library to display the First Folio in 2016. Originally Aired: 09/09/2016

21/09/2019: On Talking of Books this week we are baffled by a social media challenge spiraling out of control, and wondrous at this recently discovered connection between one of Shakespeare’s First Folios and John Milton.

From London to Kent, Oxford, the Scottish borders, Suffolk, Nottinghamshire and across the channel to France, Emma Smith takes a road trip to learn more about how Shakespeare's First Folio helped create the Shakespeare we know and love today. We take it for granted now that Shakespeare is our national poet, and his First Folio almost a religious relic, but it wasn't always so. Emma follows the story of seven of the 750 original copies of the First Folio to learn how Shakespeare's work spread across Britain and Europe, and how his reputation expanded in the hundred odd years between its publication in 1623 and the erection of his statue in Westminster Abbey in 1741. She learns about Sir Edward Dering, a shopaholic young nobleman from Kent, the first documented purchaser of a First Folio, which he bought along with a scarlet suits, a pot of marmalade and a present for his baby son. She hears about two real-life star-crossed lovers, Thomas and Isabella Hervey, from Ickworth in Suffolk, and examines the signatures they wrote in every copy of their shared library, including a First Folio. She shares a hollow laugh with the current librarian of the Bodleian Library, which acquired a First Folio and then sold it. She travels to St Omer in Northern France to see the most recently rediscovered copy and learn about the English Catholic schoolboys who may have performed extracts from it there. Having viewed a range of First Folios (see related links for examples on display across the UK) Emma considers the spread outwards of Shakespeare's reputation and inwards, deep into our lives. Emma Smith is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College Oxford and the author of a new book on the First Folio. Producer: Beaty Rubens.

Henry and Emily Folger were linked together not just by their love for one another, but their shared passion for the works of William Shakespeare. In Collecting Shakespeare: The Story of Henry and Emily Folger (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), Stephen H. Grant describes how the two of them devoted their lives to acquiring Shakespeare's works and related artifacts and how that collection became the cornerstone of one of the great cultural institutions in the world today. Though his interest in Shakespeare developed during his time at Amherst College, Henry Folger chose a career in business and began working for Standard Oil while in law school. It was through his membership in a literary circle that he met Emily, a Vassar graduate who taught in Brooklyn. As husband and wife they spent their time combing through catalogues, traveling, and engaging in constant correspondence with booksellers and others in search of First Folios and other rare works of early modern English literature. While they were reticent about their collection during their lifetime, the two sought to memorialize their success with what became the Folger Shakespeare Library, a research institution funded by the fortune Henry built up over half a century and guided to realization after his death by Emily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Henry and Emily Folger were linked together not just by their love for one another, but their shared passion for the works of William Shakespeare. In Collecting Shakespeare: The Story of Henry and Emily Folger (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), Stephen H. Grant describes how the two of them devoted their lives to acquiring Shakespeare’s works and related artifacts and how that collection became the cornerstone of one of the great cultural institutions in the world today. Though his interest in Shakespeare developed during his time at Amherst College, Henry Folger chose a career in business and began working for Standard Oil while in law school. It was through his membership in a literary circle that he met Emily, a Vassar graduate who taught in Brooklyn. As husband and wife they spent their time combing through catalogues, traveling, and engaging in constant correspondence with booksellers and others in search of First Folios and other rare works of early modern English literature. While they were reticent about their collection during their lifetime, the two sought to memorialize their success with what became the Folger Shakespeare Library, a research institution funded by the fortune Henry built up over half a century and guided to realization after his death by Emily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Henry and Emily Folger were linked together not just by their love for one another, but their shared passion for the works of William Shakespeare. In Collecting Shakespeare: The Story of Henry and Emily Folger (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), Stephen H. Grant describes how the two of them devoted their lives to acquiring Shakespeare’s works and related artifacts and how that collection became the cornerstone of one of the great cultural institutions in the world today. Though his interest in Shakespeare developed during his time at Amherst College, Henry Folger chose a career in business and began working for Standard Oil while in law school. It was through his membership in a literary circle that he met Emily, a Vassar graduate who taught in Brooklyn. As husband and wife they spent their time combing through catalogues, traveling, and engaging in constant correspondence with booksellers and others in search of First Folios and other rare works of early modern English literature. While they were reticent about their collection during their lifetime, the two sought to memorialize their success with what became the Folger Shakespeare Library, a research institution funded by the fortune Henry built up over half a century and guided to realization after his death by Emily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Henry and Emily Folger were linked together not just by their love for one another, but their shared passion for the works of William Shakespeare. In Collecting Shakespeare: The Story of Henry and Emily Folger (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), Stephen H. Grant describes how the two of them devoted their lives to acquiring Shakespeare’s works and related artifacts and how that collection became the cornerstone of one of the great cultural institutions in the world today. Though his interest in Shakespeare developed during his time at Amherst College, Henry Folger chose a career in business and began working for Standard Oil while in law school. It was through his membership in a literary circle that he met Emily, a Vassar graduate who taught in Brooklyn. As husband and wife they spent their time combing through catalogues, traveling, and engaging in constant correspondence with booksellers and others in search of First Folios and other rare works of early modern English literature. While they were reticent about their collection during their lifetime, the two sought to memorialize their success with what became the Folger Shakespeare Library, a research institution funded by the fortune Henry built up over half a century and guided to realization after his death by Emily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Henry and Emily Folger were linked together not just by their love for one another, but their shared passion for the works of William Shakespeare. In Collecting Shakespeare: The Story of Henry and Emily Folger (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), Stephen H. Grant describes how the two of them devoted their lives to acquiring Shakespeare’s works and related artifacts and how that collection became the cornerstone of one of the great cultural institutions in the world today. Though his interest in Shakespeare developed during his time at Amherst College, Henry Folger chose a career in business and began working for Standard Oil while in law school. It was through his membership in a literary circle that he met Emily, a Vassar graduate who taught in Brooklyn. As husband and wife they spent their time combing through catalogues, traveling, and engaging in constant correspondence with booksellers and others in search of First Folios and other rare works of early modern English literature. While they were reticent about their collection during their lifetime, the two sought to memorialize their success with what became the Folger Shakespeare Library, a research institution funded by the fortune Henry built up over half a century and guided to realization after his death by Emily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Henry and Emily Folger were linked together not just by their love for one another, but their shared passion for the works of William Shakespeare. In Collecting Shakespeare: The Story of Henry and Emily Folger (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), Stephen H. Grant describes how the two of them devoted their lives to acquiring Shakespeare’s works and related artifacts and how that collection became the cornerstone of one of the great cultural institutions in the world today. Though his interest in Shakespeare developed during his time at Amherst College, Henry Folger chose a career in business and began working for Standard Oil while in law school. It was through his membership in a literary circle that he met Emily, a Vassar graduate who taught in Brooklyn. As husband and wife they spent their time combing through catalogues, traveling, and engaging in constant correspondence with booksellers and others in search of First Folios and other rare works of early modern English literature. While they were reticent about their collection during their lifetime, the two sought to memorialize their success with what became the Folger Shakespeare Library, a research institution funded by the fortune Henry built up over half a century and guided to realization after his death by Emily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Folger is the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, and the crown jewels of that collection are the 82 First Folios. To celebrate 400 years of Shakespeare, eighteen of these rare books are traveling the country throughout 2016 in the “First Folio! The Book That Gave Us Shakespeare” exhibition. But before they hit the road, each First Folio received a little TLC from Folger conservators up on the third floor. In this podcast episode, Renate Mesmer takes us on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Werner Gundersheimer Conservation Laboratory. Renate Mesmer is the Folger’s Head of Conservation. Austin Plann-Curley is a project conservator in the lab. Both were interviewed by Neva Grant. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. © March 22, 2016. Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. "To Repair Should Be Thy Chief Desire" was recorded and produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington.

This week on State of Wonder: Oregonians mourn the death of a legend (including some who shared his stage), a Portland artist helps reboot DC Comics’ Dr. Fate, and a blind but colorful painter in Wallowa County.The Many Lives of Davie BowieDavid Bowie’s decades of recording, filmmaking and trendsetting led many to feel he was super-human, immortal, even alien. Of course, he was all too human, dying this week at age 69 after an 18-month struggle with cancer. The outpouring of love and grief online and across the world is staggering, and Oregon is no exception.[image: 011616_david-bowie-and-dandy-warhols,right,300x390,5698388dd073400035a111b3] We decided to go in search of how Bowie changed our small neck of the solar system. We talked with the Dandy Warhols about playing with Bowie; heard from Grandfather's Jason Lydle about finding out Bowie was a fan; caught up with Matt Sheehy, who covered "Let's Dance" on the "Late Show With Stephen Colbert"; spent some time with fans singing Bowie-oke; and learned about Bowie's impact on the gay community from filmmaker David Weissman.You can hear the Dandy Warhols' extended interview and watch their performance with Bowie here.Artist Ibrahim Moustafa - 22:13The Egyptian-American artist Ibrahim Moustafa has helped reboot the classic DC Comics series "Doctor Fate," with Dr. Fate as an Egyptian-American medical student. We talked with Moustafa about how his own dual heritage influenced the comic, which is out Jan. 20, as well as his own hit series, "High Crimes," about international intrigue on the slopes of Mt. Everest. Beat Connection - 29:42The Seattle electropop outfit Beat Connection mixes a stew of influences: pop, calypso, hip-hop, jazz, funk, and hatred of Matchbox 20. These disparate sounds are tied together by the soulful voice of lead singer Tom Eddy. Beat Connection stopped by the OPB studios to perform songs from their new album "Product 3."First Edition Shakespeare -35:24One of William Shakespeare's rare First Folios is on display at the University of Oregon’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene. Several of the so-called First Folios are touring the country, marking the 400th anniversary of the playwright’s death. The museum’s associate curator, Danielle Knapp, talked to Oregon Art Beat’s Katrina Sarson about the folio, which elevated the Bard from the low masses to high art. The Mostly Blind But Colorful Painter of Enterprise, Oregon - 36:32Bob Fergison has been compared to the Dos Equis commercial — y'know, the most interesting guy in the world. The 82-year-old marketing exec turned rural arts impresario turned fine artist continues to paint bold, expressionist nudes and fighters, despite having mostly lost his eyesight and repeatedly beaten back incurable cancer. Now the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture in Joseph is exhibiting his work through Feb. 17. Producer Aaron Scott visited Fergison in his cluttered studio.Burke Jam's Natural Music - 42:52Sound artist Burke Jam uses landscapes as the raw material for new music. We're not talking simply taking inspiration from the national natural world. It’s more like a translation of the physical world into sound. It’s known as sonification. Burke Jam spoke with OPB’s Think Out Loud and shared one composition made in Iceland called “Within the Violence of Fractured Light,” using the dripping of melting icebergs.

Henry Clay Folger paid a world record price for a book—not once, but twice—as he became the world's leading collector of Shakespeare First Folios. In this episode, economist and author Andrea Mays talks with Neva Grant about some of the fascinating financial and personal details of Folger's life, and in particular, how he went about collecting all these books. Folger, of course, did not limit himself to First Folios. He also, together with his wife Emily Jordan Folger, assembled the world’s largest Shakespeare collection—and founded the Folger Shakespeare Library. Mays's book "The Millionaire and the Bard" was published earlier this year. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. © November 18, 2015. Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. “Mine own library with volumes that I prize”was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington.

September 17, 2015 at the Boston Athenæum. Collecting Shakespeare: The Story of Henry and Emily Folger, founders of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. is the first book-length account of the American success story about Henry (1857–1930) and Emily (1858–1936) Folger, the reclusive Brooklyn couple who founded the Folger Shakespeare Library near the U. S. Capitol in 1932. The library houses 82 First Folios, 275,000 books, 60,000 manuscripts, artwork, and much more related to Shakespeare and his times. The private research institution welcomes 100,000 visitors a year and provides scholars, researchers, professors, and graduate students from around the world with access to the priceless collections stored in underground vaults. The Folgers met at a literary salon and were the first in their families to receive college educations. Henry rose to become president of the Standard Oil Company of New York, that later became Mobil Corporation. Emily earned a master’s degree in Shakespearean studies in 1896, when only 250 women in the country attained that level of education. It is a love story of a childless couple during the Gilded Age who were devoted to each other, in love with Shakespeare, and bitten by the collecting bug.

"As truth's authentic author to be cited, 'As true as Troilus' shall crown up the verse" —TROILUS AND CRESSIDA (3.2.182–183) Not long ago, the world learned of a remarkable discovery: An old book in a French library, acquired in the 1790s, was identified as an unknown copy of the 1623 First Folio of Shakespeare—the first collection of Shakespeare's plays. Before this find, there were 232 known First Folios in the entire world. Now, there are 233. Rebecca Sheir, host of the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series, talks with Eric Rasmussen, who authenticated the French discovery. An expert on the First Folio, Rasmussen gets the call when someone, anywhere in the world, thinks they may have found another copy. Along the way, he's amassed some fascinating stories and observations about one of the world's most iconic rare books. Join us for a conversation about the French First Folio, other distinctive copies, and the modern collectors, scholars, thieves, and Folio hunters who fall under the First Folio's spell. Eric Rasmussen is chair of the English department at the University of Nevada, Reno, and author of "The Shakespeare First Folios: A Descriptive Catalogue." ------------------- From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. Produced for the Folger Shakespeare Library by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. Edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. We also had help from A.J. Kenneson at radio station KUNR in Reno, Nevada.

Comedian Ricky Gervais on Life's Too Short; actor Rob Brydon; Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz; Shakespeare scholar Eric Rasmussen on tracking down Shakespeare's First Folios; and interviews with all seven short-listed authors for the winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2011.