{"id":3228,"date":"2023-02-28T11:59:52","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T11:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/folio400.com\/?post_type=phernalia&p=3228"},"modified":"2023-03-16T17:42:13","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T17:42:13","slug":"first-folio-queens-college-oxford","status":"publish","type":"phernalia","link":"https:\/\/folio400.com\/phernalia\/first-folio-queens-college-oxford\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Not a fine or a perfect copy\u2019 (Dibdin). Shakespeare\u2019s First Folio at The Queen\u2019s College, Oxford"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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In 1793, the Shakespearean scholar and literary satirist George Steevens noted the \u2018present enormous price\u2019 of the First Folio, observing that the actor and producer David Garrick only paid \u00a31 16s for his copy \u2018about forty years ago\u2019 (just over \u00a3200 in today\u2019s money). In the same footnote, Steevens also suggested that following Garrick\u2019s death, this book \u2018should have accompanied his collection of old plays to the British Museum; but has been taken out of his library, and has not been heard of since\u2019.<\/p>

We might agree about the increasingly-enormous present price of a First Folio, but Steevens was proved wrong on the last point. While Garrick bequeathed his collection of \u2018English Plays\u2019 to the British Museum, his will also promised the remainder of the collection to his wife and his nephew. And following Mrs Garrick\u2019s death, in 1823 the Folio was included in the sale of her library at Robert Saunder\u2019s \u2018Poets\u2019 Gallery\u2019 on Fleet Street (lot 2045), much to the chagrin of the Trustees of the British Museum. Thomas Thorpe, the \u2018renowned book-purchasing bibliophilist\u2019 (Dibdin) and Covent Garden bookseller, was particularly active during the sale, acquiring 469 lots. On the ninth day of the sale (2 May 1823), Thorpe purchased \u2018SHAKESPEARE\u2019S WORKS, FIRST EDITION\u2019 with a \u2018portrait by Droeshout\u2019 for \u00a334 2s. 6d. (around \u00a32,000 in today\u2019s money) Also present at the sale was Thomas Jolley F.S.A., a Covent Garden fruit salesman and potato dealer, who purchased numerous other lots but, it seemed, missed out on the Folio. At some point, Jolley rectified this, and purchased the Folio from Thorpe. Led almost to bankruptcy by his collecting habits, Jolley\u2019s library was dispersed in a series of sales from 1843. Thomas Rodd, another bookseller, acquired it at one of these (10 June 1844; lot 576), for \u00a386 (around \u00a35,200 in today\u2019s money). Thorpe was also present at this sale, but his purchasing firepower was much diminished.<\/p>

At this point, Rodd was acting as agent for The Queen\u2019s College, Oxford, which was collecting aggressively following the 1841 bequest of \u00a330,000 (an enormous sum in its day) from a former student, Robert Mason, the terms of which required the sum to be spent on the library within three years (the College contested the terms, and the timeframe expanded to a decade). On 29 June 1844, Rodd wrote to the College that, \u2018you will find in one of the boxes the first edition of Shakespeare 1623. It is complete with the exception of the leaf of verse opposite the title which is a facsimile done by Harris so admirably that it may be said to defy detection. This if you take it will complete all of your series of the early editions\u2019. The College’s ability to expand its collection, which, as Rodd mentioned, included the later editions of Shakespeare\u2019s Folios, was also hastened by the introduction of modern transport technology: a few weeks before the Folio box arrived from Rodd, the Great Western Railway began to serve Oxford. It is possible that the box containing the Folio arrived in box at the new station by Folly Bridge; certainly, Rodd wrote not long after (3 August 1844) that he had delivered more books to the \u2018Railroad office\u2019. But whether or not it arrived by coach or new-fangled locomotive, the College did decide to \u2018take it\u2019, and agreed to pay Rodd the sum of \u00a3100. With this purchase, the College could claim ownership of all four editions of the Folio.<\/p>

As an object, the First Folio, now at shelfmark Queen\u2019s Sel.b.204, retains some of the material evidence of these adventures. Most obviously, it contains the plates of two of its earlier owners, Garrick (engraved by John Wood, probably in the 1760s) and Jolley, as well as the more recent Queen\u2019s College bookplate on the inside front boards. Sale numbers can also be found in the endpapers. The book is bound in red goatskin with gold tooling, and it contains the stamp of the noted bookbinders Bedford and Clarke. As well as their quality binding work, the partners were known for their paper repairs, evidence of which is to be found in the Folio. Bedford and Clarke had probably been instructed to undertake these by Rodd, who wrote to the College that he was waiting for the binders to finish with other works; there is evidence of Clarke and Bedford bindings in other works that he sold to the College. These include the College\u2019s Second and Fourth Folios, whose details raise possible questions about the contemporaneity of the First Folio\u2019s binding. Although the design for the binding of these two later Folios is very similar, their goatskin is newer, less smooth, and the tooling is less detailed. The marbling is also different in the later volumes. While it is likely that the First Folio has seen more use at the College, the condition and the detailing suggests that the binding could be predate those of the Second and Fourth Folios, and that was used as a basis for the binding.<\/p>

Could it be that the binding is earlier, possibly even Garrick\u2019s? Most of Garrick\u2019s books in the British Library have been rebound, thanks to Panizzi, many with DG initials and centrepiece, but there is no other evidence from those books that survive or are described to link the binding. Clearly, the volume has had some considerable work done on it, not least the insertion of the facsimile of Ben Johnson\u2019s verse, as well as repairs and possibly some washing. (The \u2018Harris\u2019 mentioned in Rodd\u2019s letter was John Harris, a famed pen-and-ink facsimilist, who was also employed by the British Museum\u2019s Anthony Panizzi to make good imperfect works.) Perhaps, the mostly likely candidate, then, is Thomas Jolley, who is known to have used Robert Riviere, the bookbinder of Huguenot descent, for others of his expansive \u2013 and overly-expensive \u2013 collection. The Jolley bookplate is placed slightly on top of the Garrick bookplate, and it is likely that he commissioned Harris (since Rodd just mentions the fact, rather than that he had arranged it). A comparison with other Jolley books (and Riviere bindings) would be welcome. Whatever the case, the fine gilt tooling, edging, heavy boards and red goatskin are a testament to the Folio as a book to make a fuss over.<\/p>

On the Folio\u2019s other travels, the volume is, it seems, silent. It was perhaps with a relative at the time of Garrick\u2019s death; otherwise, it would probably now be in British Library, as his will requested, residing with the majority of his collection of English plays. Intriguingly, Garrick is known to have loaned valuable volumes to Oxford editors, but there is nothing to suggest that what became Sel.b.204 has travelled twice to the county.<\/p>

Referred to as Lee LXIV or West 34 (from the Shakespeare censuses by Sidney Lee (1902) and Anthony West (2001 & 2003)), a cruder appellation might be attached to it. By pure coincidence, \u2018count\u2019 in All\u2019s Well That Ends Well, appears to have been printed using upside-down \u2018n\u2019 in its composition, a reminder of the many reversals of type corrected throughout the print run. In Much Ado About Nothing, itself a possible bawdy allusion, the \u2018o\u2019 in count has been inked out in two places. We do not know by whom, but it tells us something about its readers. Elsewhere, there are occasional pencil annotations, marking exits, changing or correcting the certain names. Occasional burn holes and what looks to be tobacco stains are present, often over-enthusiastically associated with Garrick. Such marks, the bibliographer Dibdin suggested, stopped it being a fine or perfect copy, along with tears and repairs. Today, such human interventions \u2013 along with the association with Garrick \u2013 provide much of the interest and excitement about the volume. In 2018, Prof. Emma Smith demonstrated what careful looking can reveal, even in a long-known-about Folio: marks in King Lear reveal a previously unknown corrected proof sheet. Other copies \u2013 including round the corner at the Bodleian Library \u2013 show that these corrections were made: Queen\u2019s is only the sixth example of a marked-up Folio proof sheet in existence, and the only one in the United Kingdom. An even more recent visit from a scholar noted that a hair from one of the printers can be seen moving its way down the page. Such marks are evidence of production and correction on the fly, helping us to discern a little more about Shakespeare\u2019s words and performances. The marks also attest to how the published text was used. Splodges of ink and other substances, including perhaps tobacco attest not just to messy readers, but also to readers who were interested, perhaps forgetting what they were doing as they engaged with the words, rather than the \u2018fine and perfect\u2019 Folio. Some of the readers might be identifiable. There are at least three hands and types of ink, but the reddish ink and pencil perhaps might be linked to Garrick with some confidence. In particular, an addition to As You Like It clarifies that Rosalind is talking to Orlando, suggesting that the ending of the paly is not as clearly straight as it should be ([Rosalind]: Ile haue no Father, if you be not her:\/He haue no Huband, if you be not he:\/[in ink: Orl] Nor ne\u2019re wed woman, if you be not shee\u2019). A list of actors (that is, the parts) is begun in a loopy pencil on a blank page at the end of Coriolanus, a play that Garrick revived at Drury Lane in 1754. To this material evidence, there is contextual textual evidence, too. We can infer that it was on occasion used by the College\u2019s fellows. Henry Markheim (Fellow, 1871), went directly to the 1623 edition when he needs a text to cite for a lecture at the Taylorian.<\/p>

Four Folios in one place is, of course, a luxury, but it can also be put to pedagogical and scholarly use. Three impressions of the Droeshout portrait can be examined side by side (only the Third Folio is lacking the print) and students can gain a sense of the continuity, and changes, in size of the Folio. Greater awareness of the wider collection also brings further understanding. It was until recently thought, as Lukas Erne argues, that later seventeenth century collections \u2018tend to marginalise Shakespeare\u2019, using Sir Joseph Williamson\u2019s collection in The Queen\u2019s College as one piece of evidence. While the Library thought that this was the case until recently, examination of the 1664 Third Folio clearly identifies it as a Williamson title, with the usual JW initial. No doubt more will be uncovered, perhaps during this anniversary year.<\/p>

Matthew Shaw<\/strong>
28th February 2023<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Photo of The Queen’s College by\u00a0By Odicalmuse<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew Shaw, Librarian at The Queen’s College, takes us through the history of the college’s copy of the First Folio, detailing who has made their mark on the book along its journey to the present day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":3230,"menu_order":0,"template":"","phernalia_types":[12],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Not a fine or a perfect copy\u2019 (Dibdin). Shakespeare\u2019s First Folio at The Queen\u2019s College, Oxford » Folio 400 - Printing Shakespeare<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/folio400.com\/phernalia\/first-folio-queens-college-oxford\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Not a fine or a perfect copy\u2019 (Dibdin). 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