The net result of this book was to instill in me a desire to visit the Folger Library in Washington DC.
Henry Folger was Rockefeller’s right-hand man at Standard Oil; Rockefeller as the richest man in the world and one of the richest humans who has ever lived. Folger had the money and power to indulge himself, and his chief indulgence was a burgeoning obsession with Shakespeare.
After Shakespeare died, a group of his friends and fellow actors collected his work into a “First Folio” of plays. It’s unlikely that Shakespeare’s plays would persist to this day had it not been for his friends’ efforts. About 750 were printed and ~230 survive. Folger managed to amass 82 of these and they are all still stored in the Folger library in DC. He spent millions and millions on First Folios and other Shakespeare memorobilia. At the time of his death, he had purchaed over 250,000 items, painstakingly catalogued by his wife, who shared his obsession.
The Folger library is apparently under renovation and it’s not clear to me whether it’s possible to visit the place. It would be rather a shame if the 82 First Folios are encased in a Folger Mausoleum, preserved but locked up and buried.