Collections...and Shakespeare...and books

Read o’er the volume of young Paris’ face

, And find delight writ there with beauty’s pen; 

Examine every married lineament,

And see how one another lends content

And what obscured in this fair volume lies 

Find written in the margent of his eyes.

This precious book of love, this unbound lover, 

To beautify him, only lacks a cover:

The fish lives in the sea, and ’tis much pride 

For fair without the fair within to hide:

That book in many’s eyes doth share the glory, 

That in gold clasps locks in the golden story;

Romeo and Juliet Act 1 Sc 3

In this scene from Romeo and Juliet, Juliet's mother and her Nurse are trying to talk Juliet into considering Paris for a boyfriend. They compare him to something people at the time treasured, a BOOK! (Imagine your parents telling you to check someone out by calling him or her a "precious book of love"!)

Some people really love and appreciate books, and when I was in Washington, DC yesterday I learned just how much. I visited the Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill. It houses the largest collection of Shakespeare-related material in the world. It wasn't so much a museum about Shakespeare, but rather a glorious place of preservation of all things Shakespeare. 

The library was founded by Henry and Emily Folger in 1932. Their love of Shakespeare was one of the bonds of their relationship; after they married, they did not have children, but put much of their shared energy into collecting Shakespeare.  The Folgers believed that poets help unite us as Americans--it is from them that we draw our national thought, faith and hope. To them, the library was their gift to America.

Thank goodness that someone realized that Shakespeare's works were worth preserving. He would write just one version of a play and an in-house dramatist would write out each individual actor's roles...so there weren't necessarily many duplicates of full plays. His contemporaries did put together several plays and published what is known as the First Folio in  1623.

This is a Folio that was on display in the library

The Folger Library also has a theater that is reminiscint of a Renaissance Era playhouse, an extensive research library, and a preservation lab. Although visitors aren't allowed in the lab, I learned that the process of preservation has somewhat changed due to recent technology.  Before, when a book was cleaned, the "dirt" (for lack of a better word) was discarded. Now, however, preservationist realize that this "dirt" contains DNA! Think about it---a person licks his fingers to turn a page......Wow! They now collect and harvest this material, and in conjunction with the NIH (National Institute of Health) they may find out exactly who was also enjoying Shakespeare's work!

This trip made me think about collections...do people still have them? My daughter had a keychain collection in grade school. It was so long it took 4-5 people to hold it like a long chain!

What do people collect these days?

BC Students, enjoy Romeo and Juliet, and as you read, appreciate the fact that someone thought it was a good idea to save it for us to read! Unlock the "golden story" as Will says.

Coming up....Poe in Baltimore (Part 1)---yes...."The Bells"!!!!