{"id":1021,"date":"2021-01-18T14:44:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T14:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/folio400.com\/?post_type=phernalia&p=1021"},"modified":"2021-05-25T22:45:39","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T21:45:39","slug":"first-folio-the-holy-grail","status":"publish","type":"phernalia","link":"https:\/\/folio400.com\/phernalia\/first-folio-the-holy-grail\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Folio and The Holy Grail"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
In the several varied spaces I have come into contact with a First Folio, there has always been a disjunct between the sense of awe on approach, and the unprepossessing nature of the artefact itself. Whether in the sanctified sophistication of a Christie\u2019s showroom with the recent very fine Mills College copy, which sold for $10 million; in the Fort Knox vault several floors below the Folger library in Washington DC, where 82 are shelved against a single wall; in a collector\u2019s room of dreams in a New York brownstone, or in a plain and modest reading room in the Guildhall library \u2013 wherever I have leafed through its pages, there has always been a blend of wonder at its marvels and disappointment at its plain-ness. The greatest treasure trove of imagination, observation, stories and human insights humankind has assembled in a single volume, it is finally just a book. And a badly printed one at that.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t