![]() Quezada said the exhibit didn’t initially come together as a celebration of the Bard of Avon but from the “organic growth” that came with the discovery of all the material already existing within the university’s collections. Thursday was the only opportunity to physically view the rare item, though Tanji said there will be detailed reproductions of the First Folio and its features on display. The exhibit, which opened with a discussion from exhibit curator Derek Quezada, will now be on display in the lobby of the Langson Library through December, though the actual First Folio will not be part of the physical display with respect to its value and age. “It’s next to your Homer and your Virgil and other great works.” You couldn’t perform the text from this because it is really heavy and cost the equivalent of around $200 back in the day it was really meant for the libraries,” Lupton said. “Having it in folio form was a way of presenting work as literature. ![]() But after the Bible, this is the most imitated, translated, performed, satirized, parodied - it’s just very powerful,” said English professor and co-director of the New Swan Shakespeare Center Julia Lupton. It has more words, it has more readers, and it is an international text. It is the most influential collection of literature. “After the Bible, is the most influential single book because it has 36 plays in it. ![]() Tanji noted that the current value of UCI’s First Folio is unknown but that another copy of it went for nearly $10 million in 2020, making it the most expensive piece of literature ever auctioned. ![]() The pinnacle of Western literature is typically kept in a vault, but in honoring Hanratty’s wishes, community members are able to see it during special public events, such as on Thursday night when the exhibit opened. University librarian Lorelei Tanji said UC Irvine’s First Folio is one of only 30 complete copies in the world and rests at the school thanks to a donation from university alumnus Patrick Hanratty in 1986. And as of Thursday, UCI Libraries opened its latest exhibit, “400 Years of Shakespeare’s First Folio,” which likewise featured a rare opportunity to witness the volume that is said to be the sole reason 18 of the Bard’s plays survived history. It’s a rare opportunity to get a glimpse of William Shakespeare’s First Folio - the first collection of his works, published posthumously in 1623.Īccording to the British Museum, only about 750 copies of Shakespeare’s First Folio were ever printed, and 233 of those are currently known to have survived worldwide. ![]()
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