Folger Finds
A tale of three playbills: The Lighthouse, The Frozen Deep, and The Merry Wives of Windsor
See playbills from the Folger collection of amateur (and fundraising) performances by Charles Dickens, from Wilkie Collins to Shakespeare.
Misanthropes: Wyndham Lewis and Timon of Athens
Some of the most engrossing illustrations of Shakespeare’s rarely performed tragedy come from Wyndham Lewis, an early 20th-century artist who, like Timon, was a misanthrope.
A Hamlet that's almost too fragile to open
The pages of this 1930 edition of Shakespeare’s Hamlet look insect-eaten or worse, but they’re actually made out of sheets of cork, not paper.
A solution for pollution?
In honor of Earth Day, here’s a prominent early modern treatise against air pollution in London from the Folger collection: “Fumifugium,” published in 1661.
W. Heath Robinson: Shakespeare Illustrated by "Britain's Rube Goldberg"
Known for his complex imaginary contraptions, W. Heath Robinson also produced exquisite illustrations for editions of Shakespeare’s works.
The smallest Shakespeares in the Folger collection
Henry Altemus’ magnificently miniature copy of “The Children’s Shakespeare” by Edith Nesbit is the Folger’s smallest Shakespeare edition. The title page’s portrait of Shakespeare is only six millimeters long. Like the book’s text, it is not discernible to the naked…
This whimsical Shakespeare atlas takes you around the world to the places in his plays
This 1934 Shakespeare atlas from the Folger collection contains 19 hand-drawn maps of places (both real and imaginary) from scenes in Shakespeare plays.
The game's the thing
See examples of creative and beautifully illustrated card games and board games in the Folger collection that use Shakespeare quotes and make references to his plays.
Saint Patrick for Ireland: One of the first early modern plays to premiere in Dublin
“Saint Patrick for Ireland,” published in 1640, picks up Patrick’s story as he prepares to return to Ireland as a missionary.
Shakespeare scenes on Mardi Gras floats
A poster in the Folger collections shows charming illustrations of Mardi Gras floats in New Orleans that represent 18 of Shakespeare’s plays.
Ira Aldridge takes the stage
Ira Aldridge as Aaron in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. Since their revival by David Garrick in the early eighteenth century, Shakespeare and his plays have always generated a certain aura of celebrity, sometimes referred to as “Bardolatry.” Following in the footsteps…
Shakespeare treasures, up for adoption
A 1957 Taming of the Shrew with beautiful lithographs. Song lyrics from 1769 extolling the goblet carved from a mulberry tree supposedly planted by Shakespeare. These and other recent additions to the Folger Shakespeare Library collection will be up for…