This weekend (09/02) the Cincinnati Museum Center had a free exhibit of Shakespeare's First Folio and it was something I didn't want to miss. The CMC usually has expensive exhibits, Tom said. The only problem was that parking was still $6. And a Star Wars costume exhibit drew great numbers to the museum.
For information on the CMC, click here.
Construction is underway at the CMC. Scaffolding is everywhere but access is still maintained.
Through a glass window, we could see construction work on this main atrium. A rotunda mural from the years when this building was a railroad terminal (Union Terminal) is visible through scaffolding.
At The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (downtown location), this same mural is shown with explanatory text.
But we came for the Shakespeare exhibit ...
Shakespeare's First Folio was published in 1623, just seven years after The Bard's death. It is considered to be "one of the most influential books ever published in the English language" [Wikipedia, click here]
The Fourth Folio
1685
The Second Folio
1632
This book was inscribed as it appears to have been given as a gift.
And now to what we came for ...
The first folio (and the others) were shown beneath glass. The area always had a guard present.
The First Folio
(opened to Hamlet)
A copy sold for over $5 million in 2006. Originally 750 copies were printed. Today only 233 copies are known to exist. Eighty-two of those copies are at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. For a list of First Folio Facts click here.
Unfortunately, the Star Wars costume exhibit had lines waiting to pay an admission fee. Tom and I were able to walk directly into the Shakespeare exhibit without a fee and without waiting. That's a sad commentary on today's values in my opinion.
19th century handbills for Shakespeare's plays.
And finally we rode an escalator up out of the basement of the Cincinnati Museum Center. A breathtaking afternoon.
No comments:
Post a Comment