Ubc first folio10/2/2023 We take this mandate very seriously, which is why we are also pursuing a robust digitization program involving 3D photogrammetry to make Shakespeare accessible to new audiences in new and exciting ways. (The book was previously owned by a private collector in New York whose identity remains unknown to us). This is about democratizing access, and about bringing an extraordinary piece of the world’s cultural heritage into public ownership. Having a Folio at UBC will enable access to the book - and the conversations it catalyzes - for a great many people who otherwise would never have had the chance to see it. There is only one copy in Canada, and that’s at the University of Toronto. ![]() Cultural properties with the historical and aesthetic magnitude of the Folio are distributed very inequitably around the world, as your question implies. One of the main inspirations for this acquisition has been to address the access gap faced by residents of BC to items such as the Folio. We are also geographically distant from those places. At UBC Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC), we don’t pretend to be another version of the Folger Shakespeare Library (Washington DC) or the British Library (London). Gregory Mackie: There are many reasons people study Shakespeare, and many audiences for his work. So why is it important to have this First Folio in BC? The title page of the First Folio of William Shakespeare’s plays, 1623. Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa each own a copy. But BC seems an unlikely place for scholars to come to study Shakespeare, when there are 150 copies in the USA (and perhaps almost half of those in the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC) over 50 in the UK and 15 in Japan. The Ormsby Review: Acquiring this Folio will tie Canada with France for fifth place among countries with the book (each with 2 copies). Our conversation is below – Richard Mackie ![]() Mackie - no relation to the editor - is Associate Professor, Department of English Language and Literatures, and Norman Colbeck Curator, UBC Library Rare Books and Special Collections. We talked recently to Gregory Mackie about this gift. One of 235 copies in existence, UBC’s copy is only the second in Canada, the other being at a university in Ontario. ![]() Editor’s note: in January 2022, the University of British Columbia announced the acquisition of a rare copy of the first edition of the collected plays of William Shakespeare, known to scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623.
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