Andrea E. Mays has degrees in economics from the State University of New York at Binghamton and from UCLA, and teaches economics at California State University at Long Beach. Like Henry Folger, she is a native New Yorker and has had a lifelong Shakespeare obsession. She spent much of her Manhattan girlhood in the New York Public Library listening to vinyl LP recordings of performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The Millionaire and the Bard is her first book.
The Millionaire and the Bard: Henry Folger's Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare's First Folio
by Andrea Mays
eBook
-
ISBN-13:
9781439141243
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster
- Publication date: 05/12/2015
- Sold by: SIMON & SCHUSTER
- Format: eBook
- Pages: 368
- File size: 7 MB
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The miraculous and romantic story of Shakespeare’s First Folio, and of the American industrialist whose thrilling pursuit of the book became a lifelong obsession: “Mays’s narrative is so fast-moving, and peppered with such fascinating detail, it almost reads like a thriller” (Entertainment Weekly, Grade: A).
When Shakespeare died in 1616, half of his plays died with him. No one—not even their author—believed that his writings would last. In 1623, seven years after his death, Shakespeare’s business partners, companions, and fellow actors gathered copies of his plays and manuscripts and published thirty-six of them. This massive book, the First Folio, was intended as a memorial to their deceased friend. They could not have known that it would become one of the most important books ever published in the English language.
Over two and a half centuries later, a young man fresh out of law school, Henry Folger, bought a book at auction—a later, 1685 edition Fourth Folio, for $107.50. It was the beginning of an obsession that would consume the rest of his life. Folger rose to be president of Standard Oil, and he used his fortune to create the greatest Shakespeare collection in the world. By the time he died, Folger owned more First Folios than anyone and had founded the Folger Shakespeare Library, where his collection still resides.
In The Millionaire and the Bard, Andrea Mays spins the tale of Shakespeare and of his collector, of the genius whose work we nearly lost, the men who had the foresight to preserve it, and the millionaire who, centuries later, was consumed by his obsession with it. “Effortless in its unadorned storytelling and exacting in its research, this is a page-turning detective story” (Publishers Weekly).
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Economist Mays’s debut is effortless in its unadorned storytelling and exacting in its research, recounting the lives of William Shakespeare and his most devoted collector, Henry Clay Folger (1857–1930). Shakespeare’s First Folio, “the book of man on earth,” is the most expensive book in the world, and for Folger, president and later chairman of Standard Oil of New York, the source of an obsession that extended beyond his life—the Folger Shakespeare Library opened two years after his death. Folger’s untiring intellectual pursuit speaks to both the resounding importance of Shakespeare’s work and the mores of Folger’s Gilded Age era, which prized the ambition that led Americans to become self-made millionaires. The book is evocative in its characterizations of both the deified bard and dedicated bibliophile, finding its structure in the parallels between these two ambitious yet mysterious men. While the details of Folger’s travails to find the First Folio can sometimes weigh heavily on the long narrative, the page-turning detective story—winding through dusty library shelves and behind the closed doors of antiquarian trading—speaks to anyone with a love of literary history. Richard Abate, 3 Arts Entertainment. (May)
—Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana and A World on Fire
“The Millionaire and the Bard is a riveting narrative history about Shakespeare taking root in America. Every page sparkles with crisp prose and smart insights. I find myself cheering for Henry Folger to procure the treasured First Folios. Highly recommended!”
—Douglas Brinkley, author of Cronkite
“A fascinating account of Henry Clay Folger’s obsession with the Shakespeare First Folio. Folger amassed the collection he had dreamed out, and it is now one of the greater glories of the library in Washington, D.C., that bears his name. The achievement is all the more extraordinary in that Folger was not born into a wealthy family or privileged class. Now the full story has been told in splendid detail by Andrea Mays.”
—David Bevington, author Shakespeare and Biography and editor of The Complete Works of Shakespeare
“[Mays] honorably resurrects this affluent, rapacious eccentric who became wholly consumed with the acquisition of a priceless bonanza of Shakespeariana. A methodical opuscomprising intensive memoir and inquisitive investigation.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Effortless in its unadorned storytelling and exacting in its research. … The book is evocative in its characterizations of both the deified bard and dedicated bibliophile, finding its structure in the parallels between these two ambitious yet mysterious men. … “[A] page–turning detective story [that] speaks to anyone with a love of literary history.” —Publishers Weekly
“Mays’ first book is utterly enthralling thanks to her deep sympathy with the Folgers and her fascinated, unstuffy prose.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Fascinating … illuminating … poignant. … Recommended for all book lovers, Shakespeare fans, and anyone interested in America's Gilded Age.” —Library Journal
“A love story . . . Fun and even suspenseful . . . Awell-researched and surprisingly engrossing account.” —The Wall StreetJournal
“Riveting . . . Engaging . . . An American love story.”—Stephen Greenblatt, The New York Times Book Review
“[Mays] book does a fine job of discussing how Folger went about acquiring his treasures and what those treasures were and why they are important in literary history . . . a really interesting book.” —The Chicago Tribune
“The Millionaire and the Bard, Andrea Mays’ labor-of-love history of the Shakespeare’s First Folio and of Standard Oil executive Henry Folger’s obsession to acquire every possible copy . . . gives an exacting and very readable account of how the folio came to be — and how easily it might not have been.” —Dallas Morning News
“Captivating [and] fascinating. … A great story, wonderfully told, that book lovers, readers and collectors will savor.” —Shelf Awareness
“Snappy [and] enjoyable” —NPR
“The life of a pathological book collector may sound boring, but rest assured, it isn’t. Mays’ narrative is so fast-moving, and peppered with such fascinating detail, that The Millionaire and the Bard almost reads like a thriller.” —Entertainment Weekly
Similar to Stephen H. Grant's Collecting Shakespeare: The Story of Henry and Emily Folger, Mays's (economics, California State Univ., Long Beach) book focuses specifically on the story of Henry Folger's first acquisition of a major Shakespeare collection and uses it as the point of departure for what becomes an obsession—Folger's quest to own as many copies as he could of William Shakespeare's First Folio. While the story of the making of the first edition of collected works by the bard's fellow shareholders John Heminges and Henry Condell and the tale of how close Shakespeare's plays came to being lost altogether is fascinating, it is especially illuminating to see such an unprecedented project anatomized so minutely. With many people still speculating about the eventual disappearance of all books, this voyage back to within 125 years of the dawn of printing history seems especially poignant—as we no longer need persuading that tomes are precious and have never been so aware of their ephemerality. VERDICT Recommended for all book lovers, Shakespeare fans, and anyone interested in America's Gilded Age. [See Prepub Alert, 11/24/14.]—Jenny Brewer, Helen Hall Lib., League City, TX
An exacting inquiry into Shakespeare's First Folio and the art of extreme book collecting, demonstrated by the life of a pathological bibliophile. In her debut, lifelong Shakespeare enthusiast Mays (Economics/California State Univ., Long Beach) meticulously details the "curiously unexamined" life of millionaire businessman Henry Clay Folger (1857-1930), an obsessive, discriminating Bard collector who acquired an extremely rare, inaugural edition of dramatic works known as Shakespeare's First Folio. He then went on to spend millions on other collectible tomes with the intent to amass as many Folio copies as possible and enact text comparisons with each—"to subject them to meticulous comparative analysis." Mays begins with Shakespeare's rise to prominence among London theater and literary circles. His death in 1616 left half of his oeuvre as yet unpublished until unauthorized attempts at collecting these works produced the much-pirated "Pavier Quarto" (False Folio), followed by a modest, laborious printing of the First Folio and subsequent editions thereafter. Mays describes this undertaking in vivid detail, and she confidently presents Folger as a driving force behind the eventual success of industrial giant Standard Oil, a position that would provide him with the wealth to pursue his obsessive passion. However, the impetus of Folger's burgeoning interest in Shakespeare's Folios remains a mystery even to Mays, whose scrupulous research is evident from her revealing closing notes and bibliography. Folger's proliferating "Foliomania," which endured throughout the early 1900s until his death, comprises the remainder of the book. Without becoming fiddly, the author assembles Folger's "forgotten" lifetime through chapters brimming with biographical specifics (some known, some fascinatingly obscure) of his and wife's substantial estate, and she honorably resurrects this affluent, rapacious eccentric who became wholly consumed with the acquisition of a priceless bonanza of Shakespeariana. A methodical opus comprising intensive memoir and inquisitive investigation.