FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY

research centre in Washington, D.C., for the study of William Shakespeare, his contemporaries, Elizabethan society and culture, and 16th- and 17th-century British drama, literature, and history. The library, with approximately 280,000 books and manuscripts, possesses an unrivaled collection of Shakespeare's folios79 copies of the First Folio (1623), 58 copies of the second folio (1632), and 24 copies of the third folio (166364)and constitutes the second largest collection of English books printed prior to 1641. It also possesses world-famous collections of 18th- and 19th-century theatrical materials (such as theatre playbills, theatre programs, promptbooks, and costumes); 16th- and 17th-century French political pamphlets; tracts by various Reformation leaders including Martin Luther; and materials associated with Desiderius Erasmus and John Dryden. The library also contains musical instruments, costumes, and films. Completed in 1932 and administered by the trustees of Amherst College, the library is named after Henry Clay Folger, a Standard Oil Company of New York executive whose will bequeathed his Shakespeare collection to the American people and provided the necessary funds to house, maintain, and expand it. The reading room is open only to advanced scholars. An exhibition gallery and a model Elizabethan theatre are open to the public. Publications include a Folger Facsimile series, a series of booklets for the general reader, and Shakespeare Quarterly. Additional reading Betty Ann Kane, The Widening Circle: The Story of the Folger Shakespeare Library and Its Collections (1976).