Witness a piece of history as William Shakespeare’s First Folio is now on display at the Vancouver Art Gallery. On display until March 20th, HELD OVER until April 18th, For All Time: The Shakespeare FIRST FOLIO celebrates the University of British Columbia Library’s recent acquisition of a complete first edition of William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. The First Folio is an extremely rare book, published in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare’s death and credited with preserving almost half of his plays.
UBC acquired the First Folio, formerly in a private collection, through Christie’s New York with funding provided by a consortium of donors and support of the Department of Canadian Heritage. When the opportunity to purchase a First Folio arose in early 2021, Katherine Kalsbeek, head of rare books and special collections (RBSC) at UBC Library, had to act. “The First Folio is a cornerstone of English literature and with this donation, we are able to bring this cultural treasure into public ownership,” Kalsbeek said. “Adding a First Folio to the UBC Library collection represents a milestone in terms of our development as both a library and as a university.”
“Preserving this precious book in UBC Library makes it accessible for future generations, inspires new knowledge, and furthers our commitment to engage in world-class research in the arts and humanities,” said Santa J. Ono, UBC president and vice-chancellor.
In partnership with the Vancouver Art Gallery, the First Folio is on exhibit to the public until March 20, 2022, along with three other seventeenth-century Folio editions of Shakespeare’s plays, marking the first time all four Folios have been displayed in Vancouver.
“We are thrilled to co-present and host this capsule exhibition of the Folios at Vancouver Art Gallery. This project fits with the Gallery’s history of projects that explore the intersections of disciplines, media and popular culture; and places art in broader cultural contexts,” shares Anthony Kiendl, Vancouver Art Gallery CEO and Gallery Director. “The Gallery serves as an essential site in our community for us to come together, learn and discuss the ideas of our times—and Shakespeare’s work has provoked centuries of debate. This provides a compelling opportunity to come together with our partners and create something that none of us could accomplish singlehandedly on our own.”
The First Folio, includes 36 of Shakespeare’s 38 known plays, edited by his close friends, fellow writers and actors. It is the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays and the foundation of his enduring legacy and reputation. When Shakespeare died in 1616, only about half of his works had appeared in print, with eighteen plays yet to be published, meaning the First Folio is key to preserving and passing his works on to posterity.
“Having the book here in Vancouver on the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh people allows us to do what scholars around the world have been doing for a while now, and that is to think about Shakespeare’s work in place-based terms,” shared Dr. Patricia Badir, professor of English and head of the department of English language and literatures, UBC. “The book’s presence here will provide us with opportunities to think about how Shakespeare’s works have been agents of colonialism and provoke us to think about the ways in which Shakespeare’s plays can help us think through local iterations of global questions about sexuality and gender, religious tolerance, politics and power, race and social justice, and even climate justice.”
Vancouver Art Gallery’s For All Time will be accompanied by an audio mobile guide featuring the voice of Founding Artistic Director, Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival Christopher Gaze.
The Vancouver Art Gallery is also presenting a three-part webinar series on William Shakespeare’s plays; Contemporary Shakespeare in collaboration with UBC and with Bard on the Beach. In 1606, during an outbreak of the bubonic plague when theatres were shuttered in England, Shakespeare wrote three of his most famous tragedies: King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra. In recognition of the cyclical nature of history and the current global pandemic, the webinar series focuses on these plays;
King Lear – Wednesday, January 26, 2022, at 12 pm
Macbeth – Wednesday, February 23, 2022, at 12 pm
Antony and Cleopatra – Wednesday, March 23, 2022, at 12 pm
For further information, please visit vanartgallery.bc.ca/events.