MARIA MELCHIORRE
Staff Writer
In the center of the first floor of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library sits the unassuming Rare Book Room. The city owns an impressive number of rare books, kept in the archives of the Grosvenor Room and available by request.
The Rare Book Room, curated by Amy Pickard, is currently displaying a collection of fascinating 16th and 17th century volumes, four of which are of immense value. It’s all perfect for commemorating William Shakespeare’s death, 400 years ago.
The 1623 first folio of Shakespeare’s plays is currently on display alongside the 1632 second folio, the 1663 third folio and the 1685 fourth folio. The library’s acquisition of these pieces was a direct result of Buffalo’s Gilded Age. Colonel Charles Clifton, president of Pierce Arrow Motors, art collector and civic leader, forayed into rare book collecting and donated his finds to the library in 1935. Clifton’s main goal in his collecting was to posses a Shakespeare first folio.
“He had originally purchased the Gilburne first folio,” said Pickard of the background of the acquisitions. “This copy had a signature of one of the actors from Shakespeare’s own theater troupe.”
This signed Gilburne folio then piqued the interest of Henry Clay Folger, founder of the Folger Shakespeare Library, which is located in Washington, DC, and is home to the world’s largest Shakespeare collection.
“Folger offered Clifton double the worth of the Gilburne folio,” said Pickard, “but Clifton continued to decline the offers. All he had wanted, as a collector, was a first folio.”
Folger eventually came across another of the 233 surviving first folios from the original 750 print run. This copy was in better condition and was, objectively, more expensive. Clifton and Folger came to an agreement. The Gilburne folio, which was once in a private library in Buffalo, is now housed in the international Shakespeare research institution as a major resource for Shakespearean scholars.
In addition to the display of these four valuable folios, which is on display through January 2017, the library has also been holding a lecture series of noted Shakespearean scholars.
“Emma Smith, of Oxford University, had the very unique opportunity to authenticate a first folio that was just found on the Isle of Bute in Scotland, ironically in the year of the 400th anniversary,” said Pickard of one of the visiting scholars. “The international Shakespeare community had no idea this volume even existed,” she continued of the belief that all surviving first folios had been accounted for.
The Folger library has been sending first folios on tours to various libraries around the country, but Western New York, with its lasting legacy of rich artistic and cultural history — much of it thanks to the Gilded Age Wealth of the city — has left them comfortable in resources.
“Shakespeare in Delaware Park is celebrating its 41st season this year with a newly built stage,” said Pickard. This summer the troupe will be reprising their first production, “The Winter’s Tale”, as well as “The Taming of the Shrew.”
The Fredonia community is also celebrating the 400th anniversary this year with a roundtable discussion on Thursday. President Virginia Horvath; Dean Ralph Blasting; Iclal Vanwesenbeeck; and Tom Loughlin, chair of the department of Theatre and Dance, will come together to discuss the different facets of the bard’s works as well as the lenses through which he can most effectively be read.
Students will also be able to tour a small exhibit in Reed Library showcasing the University’s collection of Shakespearean works and interpretations, as well as various other entertainment features.
Fredonia’s celebrations of Shakespeare’s 400th year are spearheaded by Vanwesenbeeck’s English Senior Seminar class.