Promotional Information

This book will fill a major gap in our understanding of how one of America's most influential institutions came to be, and it will be welcomed by what the 1623 Folio describes as a 'great Variety of Readers.' -- John F. Andrews, President, The Shakespeare Guild The fascinating story of these two Shakespeare-loving Americans and the great rare-book library they founded... will be welcomed by lovers of Shakespeare, students of twentieth-century American culture, and early English printed books alike. -- Gail Kern Paster, Director Emerita, Folger Shakespeare Library In this thoroughly documented and illuminatingly illustrated joint biography, Stephen Grant makes a fascinating contribution to the intellectual and cultural history of their time. -- Stanley Wells, CBE, Honorary President, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon This charming and compelling tale of a literary obsession brings the Folgers back to life and serves as an important reminder of the incredibly rare and rich resources that lie hidden in the Folger Shakespeare Library. -- Debby Applegate, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher

Table of Contents

Prologue
Acknowledgments
1. Well Read in Poetry, Fair in Knowledge: Henry and Emily Form a Team
2. Thou Lovest Me, My Name Is Will: Smitten by Shakespeare
3. Wise, Circumspect, and Trusted: Five Decades at Standard Oil
4. Leading on to Fortune: Henry Invests to Buy the Bard
5. The Hunt Is Up, the Fields Are Fragrant: Building a Collection
6. Whole Volumes in Folio: The Ultimate Prize for Collectors
7. What News on the Rialto: Maneuvers in the Rare Book Market
8. Hotspur and Hal: Two Henrys Compete
9. A Monument to Gentle Verse: Designing a Treasure House
10. Dear, Blessed Plot of Land: The Folgers' Gift to America
Epilogue: Praise in the Eyes of Posterity: The Folger after the Folgers
Appendix: Directors of the Folger Shakespeare Library
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Stephen H. Grant is a senior fellow at the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training and author of Peter Strickland: New London Shipmaster, Boston Merchant, First Consul to Senegal.

Reviews

Grant provides not just a biography of the 'onlie begetters' of this astonishing library, but also an account of the worlds in which the Folgers lived. The result is a superlative book... Crisply written and packed with facts and anecdotes. -- Michael Dirda Washington Post This thoroughly researched and accessibly written book is first of all a fascinating biography of how a man and his wife devoted their lives to gathering the world's largest collection of the original folios of William Shakespeare, plus a range of literature from as early as 1500. It is also a meditation on why some museums endure and thrive, while others lapse into confusion and decay. -- James Srodes Washington Times This first biography of Emily Jordan Folger and Henry C. Folger... taps hitherto neglected resources to trace their joint obsession with collecting Shakespeare. Choice Grant's text is indeed well-researched and written, in a snappish and easily-readable style, even though there are many details. -- Jeffery Moser Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature While Collecting Shakespeare is biography intertwined with technicalities of antiquarian book and artifact collecting, it undoubtedly belongs on the Shakespeare lover's bookshelf. -- Felicia Hardison Londre Theatre Journal Stephen H. Grant tells the story of the Folgers' joint obsession clearly and efficiently; the illustrations he reproduces are particularly engaging... Shakespeareans, book collectors and all who have worked at the Library and who love and admire it will enjoy Collecting Shakespeare. -- H.R. Woudhuysen Times Literary Supplement