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Explore the Folger through our visitor film, digitally leaf through a First Folio with our touchscreen kiosk, and explore our collection through copies of Infinite Variety.

Extra-illustration came to prominence after the 1769 publication of James Granger’s Biographical history of England. Granger’s un-illustrated book combined thumbnail biographies with lists of portraits, and readers began to supplement their copies with actual examples of the portraits. The practice spread to other texts, and the great era of extra-illustration, or “grangerizing,” began. At its most extreme, a single volume could grow to dozens.

Curators: Timothy Billings, with Jim Kuhn
Alexander Huang, video curator

Early modern Europeans imagined China as a land of wonder, of riches, and of enormous opportunity. Rare books and maps from the Folger collection, along with items from the Library of Congress and the Walters Arts Museum, capture England's dawning cultural awareness and admiration of things Chinese. 

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Timothy Douglas

Reluctant lovers Beatrice and Benedick conceal their attraction behind a merry war of wit in Shakespeare’s romantic, clever comedy. The play’s musical language resonates with Caribbean rhythm in this colorful production set in the heart of Washington, DC.