A bit of a wild-goose chase, if you will. Not because they didn’t think that what they were doing was worthwhile, but because if felt too impossibly lofty a goal for UBC. Kalsbeek thought it would be a great coup others were more skeptical. Mackie was attending an antiquarian book fair in California when he heard about a First Folio that was coming to market it was the first time in nearly 20 years that such a book would be available for sale. The genesis of the historic acquisition came shortly before the pandemic erupted in North America. The purchase certainly cost millions, but the UBC team says it did not set a record. The sale price is not being made public – also part of the contract with the consignor. Mackie: “We can trace its provenance back to the 18th century, but with one tiny gap and that gap is the owner just prior to us.” “Although we don’t know the identity of the individual, we do know this copy’s history and custody of ownership.”Īdds Dr. Kalsbeek, noting that the Department of Canadian Heritage agreed. Its authenticity was vetted by Christie’s, the auction house that arranged the transaction. Not even the buyers know who that person is the seller’s anonymity was a condition of the sale. Prior to UBC, the book was owned privately in the U.S. UBC’s acquisition is known as the Cherry-Garrard copy, because it was once owned by the famed Antarctic explorer Apsley Cherry-Garrard (author of the 1922 memoir The Worst Journey in the World, a title suggested to him by his neighbour, George Bernard Shaw, Dr. Gregory Mackie, an associate professor in the department of English language and literatures at UBC, walks through a new exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The UBC professor wanted to offer that kind of access to students in Vancouver and Western Canada. Mackie can vividly recall the impact seeing the First Folio in person had on him as a PhD student at U of T. Prior to this copy arriving in Vancouver, there was only one in Canada, at the University of Toronto. It’s believed about 750 copies were originally printed an estimated 235 copies are known to remain. “This is an original from 1623, one of the most valuable books in the world,” says the artistic director of Vancouver’s Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, Christopher Gaze, who provided some assistance in the effort. Published seven years after the Bard’s death and edited by his close friends and colleagues, the collection of 36 works is credited with preserving some titles that had not been previously published and may otherwise have been lost, including Macbeth, Julius Caesar, The Tempest and Twelfth Night. The First Folio, Shakespeare’s first printed collection, is a compendium of nearly all his plays. “This was a once-in-eternity proposition being given to a public university by the most prestigious auction house in the world,” says her partner in this venture, Gregory Mackie, associate professor in the department of English language and literatures at UBC, and Norman Colbeck curator at RBSC.
“It really did take a village to bring this book to B.C.,” says Katherine Kalsbeek, head of rare books and special collections (RBSC) at UBC Library, one of the main players in this drama. The purchase of the nearly 400-year-old book follows a relentless side-of-their desks campaign by two determined UBC bibliophiles, a recognition of their dedication by a prestigious auction house, a substantial government grant, a network of deep-pocketed anonymous donors from across North America, a willing seller – also anonymous – and a concerted international effort connected by Zoom calls during a pandemic.
#Shakespeare first folio free#
Log In Create Free AccountĪn exceedingly rare and valuable complete first edition of William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories and Tragedies – known as the First Folio – has been acquired by the University of British Columbia.
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