How, When and Where

(Ed. Note--The Crimson does not necessarily endorse opinions expressed in printed communications. No attention will be paid to anonymous letters and only under special conditions at the request of the writer will names be withheld.)

To the Editor of the CRIMSON:

In the CRIMSON for April 1, it was stated that with the acquisition last year of certain volumes from the White collection, "Widener library became the repository of the world's greatest collection of Shakespeare folios." This statement is by no means true, and a correction is thought to be in order.

Of the first folio of Shakespeare's works, printed at London in 1632, the Widener library has one copy, formerly the property of Harry Elkins Widener. The greatest collection of first folios in this country, and, indeed, in the entire world, has been assembled by Mr. H. C. Folger of New York. The Folger library contains more than sixty copies of the first folio. Not all of these, to be sure, are in perfect condition, but the assembling of such a collection is in itself a gigantic task. With respect to the first folio, then, the Folger collection not only far surpasses Widener, but also quite outdistances every other library in the world.

The White gift to Harvard consisted mainly of Shakespearean quartos, of which Mr. White had a very fine collection. The greatest collections of Shakespearean quartos are in English libraries, such as the British Museum. Even in this country, however, Harvard does not hold first place. The best authority in this field is the book compiled by Bartlett and Pollard, "A Census of Shakespeare's Plays in Quarto." This census of quartos, published by the Elizabethan Club at Yale, again indicates the superiority of the H. C. Folger collection. Out of a total of 886 quartos described in detail, Mr. Folger owns 124. The Henry E. Huntington library comes next with 87. Then comes the W. A. White collection numbering 54 quartos. Through the generosity of the White family, this collection was given to Harvard in June, 1929.

It is thus seen that no matter whether Shakespearean folios or quartos be considered. Mr. Folger leads all others by a rather wide margin. In my opinions however, the chief-glory of the Folger collection lies in its ownership of the Gwynne copy of the 1619 volume. This unique copy is in its original binding. Containing nine plays, it precedes the first folio by four years, and is really the first collected edition of Shakespeare. John L. Kable, Jr. '30.