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Home to the world's largest Shakespeare collection. Advancing knowledge and the arts. Explore our collection with #FolgerFinds.

Did you have to memorize and recite a speech from

Did you have to memorize and recite a speech from Shakespeare for a English or theater class in school? What speech did you memorize? What year were you in? And how did your presentation go? Tell us in the comments!
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From our collection, here's an 1881 copy of "Shakespeare for the Young Folk," edited by Robert Raikes Raymond. Raymond was the founder and principal of the Boston School for Oratory. According to an 1894 issue of "Werner's Magazine: A Journal of Expression—Vocal and Physical," the school was still operating in 1894, six years after Raymond's death. It had six departments: Gymnastics, Pantomime, the Voice, Dramatic Presentation, Literature, and the Philosophy of Expression. A complete course of study took two years to complete. The school year was 29 weeks long; students attended classes six days a week and paid $150 a year in tuition. #FolgerFinds #PublishersBindingThursday
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Sh.Misc 299 #PublishersBinding #GoldPublishersBinding #Shakespeare #WilliamShakespeare #ShakespeareLove #Elecution #Oratory #Book #Bookstagram #Booklover #Bookworm #Books #Bookstagrammer #Library #LibrariesOfInstagram #IGLibrary

Tap the link in our bio to try out this 17th-centu

Tap the link in our bio to try out this 17th-century pirate's hot chocolate recipe from our collection, adapted for modern kitchens by Cooking in the Archives (@rare_cooking). This recipe comes from pirate and botanist William Hughes, who brought it back to England after he picked it up on a privateering ship sailing in the Caribbean. He published it in a lengthy section about chocolate preparation in his book "The American Physitian" (1672), in which he calls hot chocolate the "American Nectar." The book includes a long list of ingredients that indigenous Americans and European colonizers added to their hot chocolate: "chocolate, milk, water, grated bread, sugar, maiz [corn flour], egg, wheat flour, cassava, chili pepper [hot and sweet varieties], nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, musk, ambergris, cardamom, orange flower water, citrus peel, citrus and spice oils, achiote [annatto seed], vanilla, fennel, annis, black pepper, ground almonds, almond oil, rum, brandy, [and] sack." @Rare_cooking's version includes chili flakes, bread crumbs, and vanilla. #LinkInBio
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📸: Hot chocolate photo by Teresa Wood Photography @teresawoodphotography William Hughes, "The American Physitian," 1672. Folger 160- 266q. #Recipe #HistFood #HotChocolate #HotCocoa #Chocolate #ChocolateLovers #FolgerFinds #BeforeFarmToTable #FirstChefs #RecipeOfTheDay #FoodHist

Makes us miss stepping into the warm lights of Fol

Makes us miss stepping into the warm lights of Folger Theatre on a cold, dark night. From our collection: a late 19th-century watercolor of the Drury Lane Theatre by artist Paul Braddon, from a series called "The Haunts of Sarah Siddons." A manuscript note on the sketch's backing says, "Drury Lane Theatre It was here that Sarah Siddons made her debut, the result being rather disappointing to Garrick—the character being ill chosen—her next appearance Oct 10, 1782 was a triumphant success." #FolgerFinds
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#Watercolor #SarahSiddons #Watercolorist #WatercolorsOfInstagram #DruryLane #DruryLaneTheatre #painting #Art #artist #Sketch #Sketchbook

If these plays don't look familiar to you, don't w

If these plays don't look familiar to you, don't worry. This is the Third Folio, the third printed edition of Shakespeare's collected works, following the books we call the First Folio and the Second Folio. The Third Folio (1663) and Fourth Folio (1685) include a number of plays we no longer believe that Shakespeare wrote, including the "Tragedy of Locrine." Tap the link in our bio to read Alexandra E. LaGrand's new blog post all about the history of "Locrine" and how it came, for a time, to be attributed to Shakespeare.
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Fun (sad?) fact: there are actually fewer copies of the Third Folio today than there are of any of the other editions, making it the rarest of the Folios. Because the Third Folio was published in 1663, many copies were still in London when the Great Fire of London occurred in 1666. @ShakespeareBTrust writes: "The Stationer’s shops and print shops were lost in the fire. Many booksellers placed their stocks in the crypt of St. Faith’s beneath the choir of St. Paul’s—the flaming roof of the cathedral broke through the sealed vault and the books are said to have burned for a week." #Shakespeare #LinkInBio
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From our collection: "Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies" (Third Folio), 1663. Folger S2914 Fo.3 no.13.

A Statement from Michael Witmore, Director of the

A Statement from Michael Witmore, Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library, January 7, 2021:
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Like so many who are privileged to work on Capitol Hill, we at the Folger are saddened and shaken by what happened in our neighborhood yesterday. The violent breach of the US Capitol to thwart the election and peaceful transfer of power is an affront to our American democracy and our District community.
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This is a moment of great division in American life, in part because of the pandemic. But there are deeper underlying divisions, about culture, about freedom, about racial justice, and about who gets to enjoy the benefits of our democratic society. These conflicts are real and they define our moment.
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We do not know what the coming days and months will bring. But as an institution representing the arts and humanities, part of our role in civic life is to take deep questions and deep disagreements and meet them with a knowledge of history and a passion for greater understanding.
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To all who have reached out to us, the Folger—our staff, collection, and landmark building— remains safe. What’s also safe is our commitment to engaging more and more of our fellow Americans in challenging conversations that elevate our shared humanity and strengthen our democracy.
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Tap the link in our bio to read this statement on our website.

What do you want to see more of on our Instagram i

What do you want to see more of on our Instagram in 2021? Tell us in the comments! From our collection: A beautiful goatskin binding, possibly by bookbinder Richard Balley, on a 1691 copy of William Walsh's "A Dialogue Concerning Women: Being a Defence of the Sex." #FolgerFinds
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Folger W645. #Bookbinding #Book #Bookstagram #Booklover #Books #Binding #SpecColl #SpecialCollections #LibrariesOfInstagram #IGLibrary

Today is Twelfth Night, so from our collection, he

Today is Twelfth Night, so from our collection, here are three costume renderings for a production of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" by Henry Hawes Craven, one of the 19th-century's greatest British scenic painters and designers. Which of these costumes is your favorite? We're huge fans of Maria's dramatic collar. #FolgerFinds
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Folger ART Box G796 nos. 4, 5, and 6. #TwelfthNight #Shakespeare #WilliamShakespeare #ShakespeareLove #Theatre #TheatreLife #TheatreKid #HenryHawesCraven #HenryHawesCravenGreen #Costume #Costuming #Costumer #CostumeRendering #Watercolor

Happy New Year from the Folger! Here are a few of

Happy New Year from the Folger! Here are a few of our most popular posts from 2020, the year when we shared our Shakespeare together... even though we had to be apart. We're looking forward to sharing even more Shakespeare with you in 2021!

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#Top9 #TopNine #TopNine2020 #Top9of2020 #Shakespeare #FolgerShakespeareLibrary #FolgerFinds #ShareYourShakespeare #WilliamShakespeare #Theatre #TheatreKid #ActorLife

Have a holly jolly Christmas! From our collection,

Have a holly jolly Christmas! From our collection, here's a pattern from the 1608 Trevelyon Miscellany. What is the Trevelyon Miscellany? The curators of our 2004 exhibition "Word & Image" wrote that this 600-page manuscript, created by Thomas Trevelyon, is best be described as a prototype coffee table book, created for the entertainment, education, and edification of his friends and family. The subject matter leaps from mundane to mythical, poetic to practical. Familiar scenes of domesticity and husbandry are intertwined with epic religious and political epitomes.

Trevelyon trawled chronicles, almanacs, broadsides, emblem books, and the Bible for his source material, appropriating texts and images from an unknown number of books, woodcuts, and engravings. But one could hardly accuse him of lacking an imagination. While most of the drawings are amusingly primitive, the overall effect is extraordinary. Viewing the pages individually, one loses the impact of his use of repeated visual imagery and ornamental borders. The manuscript is an attempt to create order and calm out of a disorderly and chaotic world. #FolgerFinds

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Alli Gubanich A Midsummer Night's Dream celebrating Shakespeare's birthday classroom tech Common Core Corinne Viglietta David Fulco Deborah Gascon First Folio First Folio tour Folger Digital Texts Folger Education Folger Shakespeare Library Folger Theatre Gina Voskov Hamlet Introducing Shakespeare Julius Caesar King Lear language Macbeth Mark Miazga NCTE Othello Peggy O'Brien Richard III Romeo and Juliet Secondary School Shakespeare Festival Shakespeare Shakespeare in American Life Shakespeare Set Free Sonnets Stefanie Jochman student voices Summer Academy alum tales from the classroom teaching Shakespeare Teaching Shakespeare Institute Teaching Twelfth Night with Technology Technology in the Classroom TSI TSI 2014 TSI alum guest post Twelfth Night words