Rice University Office of Media Relations
News Release DATE: Jan. 20, 1999
CONTACT: Philip Montgomery
PHONE: (713) 831-4795 99-84
SHAKESPEARE FOLIO FINDS PERMANENT HOME AT RICE'S LIBRARY
HOUSTON, Jan. 20, 1999 -- Scholars may never know the details of William Shakespeare's love life, but they do know that the authoritative text for the bard's plays is the 1623 "First Folio," which is now available to scholars and students through Rice's Fondren Library.
The "First Folio," of which about 240 exist, recently became available to students and scholars at Fondren Library's Woodson Research Center, a repository for rare archives. Rice's "First Folio" contains three of Shakespeare's most important plays: "The Tragedy of King Lear," "The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice," and "The Tragedy of Anthony and Cleopatra." A complete "First Folio" contains 36 plays.
"The 'First Folio' is the most authoritative single text we have of Shakespeare's play," said Meredith Skura, professor of English at Rice and a Shakespearean scholar. "Students have always been able to read modernized versions of Shakespeare's texts--but with a 'First Folio' in our library they will for the first time be able to see for themselves how different the original was. It is important to realize how much the actual text has been doctored for modern taste."
In 1623, seven years after Shakespeare's death, two of his friends and fellow actors published the playwright's collected plays in what is known as the "First Folio."
William B. Hunter, a Milton scholar who taught at the University of Houston, Vanderbilt and other universities, donated the "First Folio" to Rice in the summer of 1998.
Rice University is a leading American research university--small, private and highly selective--distinguished by its superior teaching, commitment to undergraduate education, outstanding graduate and professional programs, residential college system, collaborative and interdisciplinary culture and global perspective.
For more information about the "First Folio," contact Philip Montgomery, assistant director of Rice's Office of Media Relations, at (713) 831-4792.
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Editors: For more information about Rice University visit http://riceinfo.rice.edu/Fondren/
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