First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare – Delaware

First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare was a touring exhibition from the Folger Shakespeare Library that visited one location in all 50 United States, Puerto Rico, and Washington DC in 2016 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.


This article provides highlights from the exhibition’s visit to Delaware.

Exhibition Location: Newark, Delaware

Exhibition Venue: University of Delaware

Exhibition Dates: August 30, 2016 – September 25, 2016


Partner Organizations:

  • UD Departments: English, Theater, Music
  • Winterthur Museum and Library
  • Delaware Art Museum
  • Delaware Shakespeare Festival
  • E-52 UD Student Theater group
  • Delaware Division of Libraries


Complementary Exhibitions:

  • Shakespeare Through the Ages, August 30 – December 12, 2016
    • This exhibition explores the reception and treatment of William Shakespeare’s works across the years, ranging from Shakespeare’s age to our own. Objects on display will include early-printed books of Shakespeare, his contemporaries, and his sources. Also on display will be examples of Shakespearean criticism, adaptations, parodies, private press editions, and forgaries, all drawn from the University of Delaware Library’s extensive holdings of rare books and manuscripts. All this, and more, will showcase the many ways in which Shakespeare’s works have lived on in the four centuries since his death.


  • Illustrating Shakespeare: From Boydell to Baskin, August 30 – September 25, 2016
    • This exhibition opens with the late-eighteenth century enterprise of the successful printer and publisher John Boydell (1719-1804), who commissioned major artists then active in England to paint scenes from the plays to be exhibited in a London gallery on Pall Mall. Drawn from Delaware collections, this exhibitions bears witness to the legacy of Shakespeare and to our continued fascination with his creations, by focusing on key characters in Shakespeare’s plays visualized by artists whose works reflect changing tastes and styles over two centuries.


Event List:

  • August 30, 2016 – Public Preview Day
  • August 30, 2016 – Perspectives on First Folio Lectures: Shakespeare’s First Folio by Professor Jay Halio
  • September 1, 2016 – Lecture, Illustrating Shakespeare: From Boydell to Baskin by Janis A. Tomlinson
  • September 7, 2016 – Opening Lecture: Shakespeare for the Centuries, by Dr. Michael Witmore
  • September 7, 2016 – Opening Reception with remarks by “Bro” Adams, Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities
  • September 9, 2016 – Lecture: Shakespeare’s First Folio by Professor Jay Halio
  • September 10, 2016 – First Folio! Family Workshop: Have Fun with Hamlet
  • September 14, 2016 – Perspectives on First Folio Lectures: Digital Shakespeare by Professor Kristen Poole
  • September 14, 2016 – First Folio! Acting Techniques Workshop/Comparative Readings
  • September 15, 2016 – Perspectives on First Folio Lectures: The First Folio as Media Launch by Professor Julian Yates
  • September 17, 2016 – First Folio! Family Workshop: Words, Words, Words
  • September 17, 2016 – First Folio! Adult Workshop: Print and Bind a Folio
  • September 21, 2016 – Perspectives on First Folio Lectures: Facing Shakespeare by Associate Professor Miranda Wilson
  • September 22, 2016 – Perspectives on First Folio Lectures: Picturing Shakespeare by Associate Professor Wendy Bellon
  • September 23, 2016 – Julianne Baird Sings Shakespeare with Richard Stone, Lute
  • September 24, 2016 – First Folio! Family Workshop: Create a Folio
  • September 24, 2016 – How I Came To Love Shakespeare, Performance by David Stradley of the Delaware Shakespeare Festival
  • October 6, 2016 – Lecture, The Mysteries of Hamlet by Professor Jay Halio
  • October 18, 2016 – Lecture, Let’s Talk of Graves: Shakespeare and the Celebration of Death by Professor Emerita Lois Potter
  • October 25, 2016 – Lecture, Two Booksellers Make a Discovery: Turning the Pages of Shakespeare’s Dictionary by George Koppelman, proprietor of Cultured Oyster Books, and Daniel Wechsler, proprietor of Sanctuary Books
  • November 3, 2016 – Lecture, The Millionaire and the Bard: Henry Folger’s Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare’s First Folio by Andrea Mays
  • November 17, 2016 – Lecture, The Ecology of Shakespeare’s First Folio by Assistant Professor Joshua Calhoun
  • November 29, 2016 – Lecture, Collecting Shakespeare in Folios and Quartos by Professor Zachary Lesser
  • December 6, 2016 – Lecture, Playing our Part: Traveling and Preserving Shakespeare’s First Folio from a Conservation Point of View by Renate Mesmer, Folger Head of Conservation


Click here to learn about the First Folio that visited Delaware.