Thanks mostly to the enthusiastic comments made by President Jones during Commencement weekend, we had over 100 visitors to the Watkinson on Saturday to see the recently acquired “Second Folio” of Shakespeare.  We don’t often see people literally lining up to see our books, but it is entirely gratifying.

Folks also were impressed by our marvelous copy of John James Audubon’s Birds of America, which is on permanent display (we turn the page to show a new bird every week).

Other items which I brought out for the day included two engravings on copper sheets which were used to illustrate Prideaux John Selby’s Illustrations of British Ornithology (published 1834-39), which were placed alongside the book itself.  Selby was a contemporary of Audubon, and the two ornithologists compared notes and shared insights when the latter was at work in England.

Parents and students appreciated the current exhibition, Drawing Birds, which features sketches done by students last semester for Devin Dougherty’s Studio Arts class (Drawing I), especially as they noticed the work of friends and classmates.

“The nest of this active little bird is formed of singular materials, being composed externally of dried mosses and the green blossoms of Hickories and Chestnut-trees, while the interior is prettily lined with fine fibrous roots, the whole apparently rather small for the size of the occupants . . .

It is an inhabitant of the interior of the forests, and is seldom found on the borders of roads or in the fields. In spring they m0ve in pairs . . . [and] are ever amongst the decayed branches of trees or other plants, such as are accidentally broken off by the wind, and are there seen searching for insects or caterpillars.

. . . This species reaches the Central Atlantic Districts in the middle of May, and breeds there, as well as farther northward.  I have found them more numerous in the Jerseys than in any other portion of the Union.  In Kentucky and Ohio I have seen only a few of them; nor have I ever found their nests in either of these states.

The plant on which you see a pair of Worm-eating Warblers is well known throughout the United States by the name of Poke-berry.  It grows in every situation, from the tops of the most arid mountain-ridges to the lowest and richest valleys; and it is almost impossible to follow a fence for a hundred yards without seeing some of it.  Its berries are food for numerous species of our birds, and produce a beautiful dark crimson juice, which is used instead of red ink by some of the country people, although it does not retain its original colour for many days.  This plant grows to a height of four or six feet, and is eaten when it first shoots from the ground as a substitute for asparagus, quantities of it being not infrequently exposed in the markets.  The juice of the berries is taken in cases of ague and continued fever, but requires to be used with judgment, as too large a dose proves deleterious.”

–J. J. Audubon, Ornithological Biography, I (1831), 177-178 [excerpted].

. . . A few breed in Kentucky and the State of Ohio, but the Middle Districts are their principal places of resort during summer, although they extend their migrations to a high latitude.

. . . So fond of each other’s company are they, that a party of them passing on the wing will alter its course at the calling of a single one perched on a tree.  This call is uttered with much emphasis . . . no sooner has the flock, previously on wing, alighted, than the whole party plume themselves, and then perform a little sweet concert.  So much does the song of our Goldfinch resemble that of the European species, that whilst in France and England, I have frequently thought, that they were the notes of our own bird which I heard.

. . . In ascending along the shores of the Mohawk river, in the month of August, I have met more of these pretty birds in the course of a day’s walk than anywhere else . . . for a considerable space along the Gennessee river, the shores of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and even Lake Superior, I have always seen many of them in the latter part of summer.

–J. J. Audubon, Ornithological Biography, I (1831), 172-174 [excerpted].

” . . . The woody sides of the sea are the places to which this species usually resorts.  It passes from the south early in March, and continues its route through Florida, Georgia, and all the other States verging on the Atlantic, beginning to rest and to breed in North Carolina, and extending its travels to the province of Maine.

. . . the most remarkable distinction between this species and the Yellow-billed Cuckoo is, that the former, instead of feeding principally on insects and fruits, procures fresh-water shellfish and aquatic larvae for its sustenance.

. . . It being so scarce a species in Louisiana, I have honoured it by placing a pair on a branch of Magnolia in bloom, although the birds represented were not shot on one of these trees, but in a swamp near some, where the birds were in pursuit of such flies as you see figured, probably to amuse themselves.”

–J. J. Audubon, Ornithological Biography, I (1831), 170-171 [excerpted].

We are exceedingly pleased to announce our acquisition of the so-called “Second Folio” of Shakespeare, which came from a Rhode Island family in whose possession it has been since the Civil War.

There were four (4) folio editions of the collected plays of Shakespeare produced in the seventeenth century.  The celebrated “First Folio” (1623) was the first edition.  Eighteen of the plays had never been printed before, including Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Antony and Cleopatra, and The Tempest.

The “Second Folio” was printed when the First sold out, and is principally famous for the dedicatory poem to Shakespeare written in 1630 by John Milton—which was his very first publication of English verse (he was 24).  There are over 170 copies recorded in American institutions, 57 of which are in the Folger Shakespeare Library (Washington, DC).  The “Third” (1664) and “Fourth” (1689) folios contained seven extra plays, of which only Pericles is now considered to be Shakespeare’s.

The First Folio is one of the most studied books in English literature, and so it (and its successors) are excellent tools to use to teach students about print culture in early modern England.  Purchasing a First Folio is generally not possible for institutions like Trinity, since the going rate for a complete copy in good condition is roughly $5 million.  However, the latter Folios are sometimes within reach, especially (as with this copy) if it lacks a few key leaves, such as the title-page and the portrait of Shakespeare.  These, however, can be supplied in facsimile.  Milton’s dedicatory poem and all of the plays are present.

This particular copy is fascinating because of what generations of owners have done with (and to) it.  At least two former owners were women–one of whom (“Mary Wright”) dated her signature “1716”.  There are other names written in the book, as well as plenty of manuscript marginalia (including a transcription of Shakespeare’s will, lists of actors, and comments on the texts).  At the end, there are also clippings from newspapers and sections of later editions of certain plays (Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, and Richard III).

As one faculty member put it in a letter supporting the purchase, “We could all quite easily use it as a pedagogic tool, a text to share with students of all levels as we teach our various courses on early modern literature and culture, Shakespeare, and the history of the book. Undergraduates understand full well the cultural centrality of Shakespeare; they are often surprised and interested to find out how the significance of Shakespeare’s plays has been imagined and reimagined not only on the stage but also on the page.  This specific copy of Shakespeare’s Second Folio seems a particularly rich and interesting acquisition in this regard.  As a material artifact filled with marginal comments by readers, it bears witness not only to the monumentalizing ambitions of Shakespeare’s seventeenth-century publishers but also to the shifting ways in which Shakespeare’s work has been read and interpreted over time.”

Many, many thanks to members of the Watkinson Board of Trustees and the administration of Trinity College for their generous support, without which this acquisition would not have been possible!