“To be, or not to be.”
A line from one of the most iconic and remembered theatrical speeches of all time. This monologue, taken out of the classic play Hamlet, was written by the one and only William Shakespeare.
Come October 2016, the University of Minnesota Duluth's own Tweed Museum of the Arts will be a temporary home for one of the rarest and most valuable books in the world, First Folio.
First Folio is one of the original printed editions of Shakespeare's plays. It includes the script of Hamlet and many of his other works. There are only a few hundred copies of First Folio left in the world.
To commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. is lending a few copies out to tour the country for exhibitions. Only one site in each state was chosen. UMD was the selection for Minnesota.
“We had the intellectual position to make a good argument about how we could support the program,” said Dr. Krista Twu, head of the department of English at UMD. “It really took an outreach to the library and Tweed. The Tweed might be the only place that meets the requirements in all of Duluth. It has been such a group effort. It shows how UMD is very much a leader in the area for humanities and arts.”
In partnership with the American Library Association, the Folger looked for applicants who could provide creative public programs, support from local scholars and community organizations, along with appropriate security for the manuscript. According to the Washington Post, the Folger’s First Folios will stop at 23 museums, 20 universities, five public libraries, three historical societies, and one theater.
Matthew Rosendahl, the Library and Museum Director at UMD, said that copies of First Folio similar to the one that will be here have been sold at auction for millions of dollars. He said huge precautions are being taken to ensure the security of the book.
”Immediately when the announcement was made about the event, the police department reached out to us and said that they are ready for whatever we need.” Said Rosendahl. “It's been great working with UMD police. In order to be the chosen site, we decided to go above and beyond to create the best and most dynamic group of programming. Anyone related to arts in the community stepped up in a big way.”
The exhibit will feature the book, but it will also include many additional educational and artistic opportunities. Patrons will have the option of going to see a theatre exhibit, book exhibit, hear early music of the time, see a play, take in poetry readings, participate in workshops, and much more. The Minnesota-native band Low will also be playing music over 100 year-old silent films made about Shakespeare.
“I think it's interesting that 100 years ago we were celebrating the 300th anniversary of his death.” Said Twu. “We want them to have a great total experience. There will be so many different ways to engage them so people will get the most out of their money.”
Many local theatre companies have made the decision to put on productions of some of Shakespeare's plays during the time of the exhibit. These include Renegade Theatre Company and Wise Fool Shakespeare who want to put on plays, and the Zinema who's going to do a film festival.
“All the theaters in the entire state have the collective goal of putting on every play in this book in the year 2016.” Said Rosendahl. “Duluth will be Shakespeare central.”
Published 7 years after his death, the book itself was thought to be composed and published by a few of Shakespeare's closest friends. It contains 18 out of the 38 plays by Shakespeare, and it is the first appearance of many of them, such as The Tempest and As You Like It. Twu explained that none of his plays were published during his life-time because he wrote his plays specifically to be performed by his own theatre company and only by his theatre company.
There were only about 5 to 6 hundred copies originally published at that time. Twu also explained that during the 17th century, people were only able to buy the “innards” of a book. They would then have to take them to a book binder and have them bound to their specifications.
“Each printed book has a different history of use and ownership.” Said Twu. “So not even the bindings were all the same.”
Twu said they are not yet sure which specific copy will be coming, but it will be open to the page in Hamlet, where Hamlet makes his iconic “To be, or not to be” soliloquy.
Twu also expressed her excitement about the aspect of historical technology that the book exhibits, as part of the history of manuscript to print. They hope to offer some educational information on the history of books as a whole as well.
“From the tablet, to the scroll, to the book, and now to the computerized ebooks and tablets.” Said Twu. “I'm struck by the fact that we're on Macbooks now, but what we do in a document is scroll. This book is really a fossil record of how reading has changed.”
Twu and Rosendahl both agreed that they were impressed with the Duluth community's excitement and response to the event. They were impressed at how many people stepped up to make it all happen.
“The responses were really overwhelming, people had an emotional response to it," said Rosendahl. “This demonstrates how much the public views humanities and arts as a civil and educational experience.”
“UMD is a great place for humanities and arts.” Said Twu. “It's spectacular. In some ways humanities and the arts have been met with a sort of public skepticism, sometimes it's viewed as entertainment. They have a tendency to see this as kind of frivolous. But, with the community out-pour of support, there is a huge population that really values the arts as a social resource, non trivial accomplishments for humanity. It's more than just entertainment. It's vital to understanding who we are as a society, where we've been, where were going, and what choices we have in forming our own future.”
Because the event is still in the early stages of planning, Rosendahl suggests that anyone interested should keep an eye on the UMD website for information. There will be a list and calendar of all events posted in the upcoming months.
Editor's note: This story was revised after publication to fix a typo that altered the year of the event. October 2015 was changed to October 2016, which the correct year for the folio tour.