The Millionaire and the Bard: Henry Folger's Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare's First Folio

by Andrea Mays

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).

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Shakespeare, Biography, Books About Books, Historical, Book Club

368 pages, Paperback

First published May 12, 2015

Reviews

[Sean Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s mind-boggling to contemplate the fact that but for a couple of pals deciding to throw convention to the wind and self-finance a printing of a collection of his plays, and in a format generally reserved for religious work and other important books (as opposed to trashy popular entertainment—the Real Housewives of Stratford-Upon-Avon, if you will), Shakespeare’s body of work would likely be little more than a historical footnote.

To wit: “One of the more popular playwrights of the Elizabethan era was William Shakespeare, whose works included Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, and Macbeth. While the scripts for those plays have been lost to time, he was also a prominent theater manager and, it’s said, one heck of a dancer, a man whose suggestive pelvic gyrations anticipated Elvis and the sexual revolution by more than 350 years.”

Okay, so, the footnote might not have read exactly like that, but pause for a second and consider the full depth and breadth of Shakespeare’s influence on popular culture. It is, quite literally, almost impossible to go a day without encountering some book/movie/show informed by the Bard’s work, or without saying a word or phrase that he either invented or popularized.

Now, some might argue that Shakespeare’s influence is too pervasive and outsized (and yes, I hear you there in the back, wearing the “Han Shot First” t-shirt and yelling “HE DIDN’T EVEN WRITE THE PLAYS! IT WAS EDWARD DE VERE!”—your shirt is right, but your brain is an idiot, so please be quiet). But, there’s no denying that Western culture would look markedly different if not for the unusual decision by Shakespeare’s friends to print his work at a time when plays were seldom preserved for posterity.

But, it wasn’t just those free-thinking renegades thumbing their nose at the establishment that enabled Shakespeare to become, as Ben Jonson so memorably wrote, “Not of an age, but for all time.” It was also the bibliophiles who preserved copies of that historic book, dubbed the First Folio. (And bonus points for those editors who went back to the First Folio to get as close as they could to Shakespeare’s original text when subsequent printings altered the text to the point where The Tempest became “The Big Blowy Storm Thing” and Macbeth became “Brood Dude”). And, it was Henry Folger, a smart, hard-working, level-headed oil tycoon who happened to have an obsessive addiction to owning First Folios, and his indefatigable wife, equally dedicated to the acquisition and preservation of Shakespeare’s body of work.

Mays unspools a fascinating story that covers both the landmark decision to print Shakespeare’s plays and the trials and tribulations of subsequent printings as well as Folger’s lifelong quest to get his hands on as much Shakespeariana as any human on earth and, as he neared the end of his life, build the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, the world’s greatest collection of Shakespeare and Elizabethan literature. Elizabethan aficionados will love the cut of the jib of the former aspect; modern-day bibliophiles will marvel at Folger’s single-mindedness and dedication to building his collection in a pre-digital age when an intense amount of manual labor was required to do so.

I don’t want to veer too quickly into hyperbole, so let’s all agree that, had Shakespeare’s work been lost to the ravages of time, the world would have gone on and we’d all still be hanging out here just like we are now, ripping each other’s throats out over political disagreements while the world literally burns around us. In other words, the preservation of Titus Andronicus did not save the world.

But.

Yes, there’s a but. There’s always a but, and this is a big, fat, juicy, twerking but. Shakespeare’s collective body of work offers such incredible insight into not only Elizabethan society, but the human condition generally, that our culture truly would be the poorer for not having it. And so the story of its preservation, and Henry Folger’s attempts to make sure that original source material was publicly available in perpetuity, is both intellectually interesting and emotionally arresting.

As I was finishing the book, I decided an afternoon work break was in order and popped over to the Folger Shakespeare Library. I took a few moments to marvel at the beautiful building and the incredible sculptures that adorn it, but I wasn’t there for those. Not on this day. I walked in, listened appreciatively as the docent told me about the current exhibition (all about the construction of the library, something I felt pretty well versed in at that point), and then stepped into the main exhibit hall.

I had two objectives in mind, the first of which was to take a look into the reading room, the scholars-only area where the many historical texts the Folgers collected can be studied. While the hoi polloi can’t enter that beautiful room, dominated by dark wood and gorgeous stained glass, you can look into it from the exhibit hall. I felt a thrill of excitement as I peeked in, watching students, researchers, and other academics hard at work on their respective projects.

Even more than that, however, I looked forward to my second objective. Walking the full length of the cavernous exhibit hall, where only one other Shakeophile lurked, I strode slowly but purposefully toward the object of my quest.

A moment later, I stood before it, opened to the title page of Measure for Measure: an actual First Folio.

Here, in this 400-year-old book, big and thick and durable, lay not just the collected works of one William Shakespeare, but the living embodiment of what writing and printing enable in a way that nothing else does: the survival and passing down of culture, the very thing that makes us human. A window into the mind of a single man, but a man whose mind held a mirror up to his society, who took the measure of those around him and reflected their passion, their greed, their loves, their hates, their nobility, their baseness—in short, their humanity.

I stood before it, centuries later, the air charged with electricity as my mind fell back through time to imagine the chain of events that had led to this book being here with me now, the hands it passed through, the events that transpired around it. A piece of history, a piece of culture, a piece of the fabric that binds us all together, no matter how much we may be trying to rip ourselves apart right now.

And you know what? I’m not even taking dramatic license. That’s truly how I felt and what I thought. Reading The Millionaire and the Bard, understanding the unlikely set of occurrences that had led to this moment, to me having the opportunity to gaze upon this literary treasure, made that moment even more special than it would otherwise have been (and it still would have been pretty special). I’m so incredibly thankful to have experienced it—to those bold souls who put the content together, to the irascible printer who printed it, to the many people who preserved it over the years, and to the Folgers who bought and made it available for the world to see.

That in and of itself is a testament to the power of words: were it not for Mays’s canny storytelling, I would know so little about the remarkable circumstances that led to that moment. And so I’m grateful to her as well, and for everyone out there working every day to preserve history, hand it down to future generations, and help us learn not just from the mistakes of the past, but from the monumental achievements of our forebears as well.

(Neither here nor there: I almost misspelled that “fourbears,” and now I want to read a story about four old bears imparting the wisdom of the past when they’re not getting paws and noses stuck in honey pots. “Hey, what’s the deal with that quartet of caniforms dispensing wisdom nuggets to those children over there?”

“Oh, those are our fourbears.”

So, someone please get on writing that.)

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Knowledge was the source of his power.”

“The Millionaire and the Bard is a book that was tailor made for someone like me. Someone who loves history, libraries, and Shakespeare. The text’s subtitle aptly sums up what the focus of the book is, “Henry Folger’s Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare’s First Folio”.
The book has three major focuses-
# 1-The creation of the First Folio of the collected works of William Shakespeare in the early 1620s, and the history of that publication and its effect on western literature and civilization. Andrea Mays (the author) examines all aspects of this event, from the gathering of plays to include, to the printing process, subsequent editions, etc. I found it very interesting. I have read other books on the First Folio, but this text follows a concise, yet informative pattern.
#2- The collecting habits and thrills of Henry Clay Folger. We get some biographical info that is pertinent to the book’s point and then Mays focuses on some of the more sensational moments of Folger’s collecting career to keep our attention. At times, it is almost edge of your seat reading. No joke.
# 3- The book’s last section deals with the building of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC, and what the Folger collection became. The fact that this collection is still together and survived the life of its collector as a complete unit is in itself amazing. The Folger Library houses the single largest collection of First Folios in the world, and that is just a part of the astonishing items it contains.
Andrea Mays is an economist by training and I greatly appreciated the sentiment that she expresses in the book, “Henry Folger was a brilliant, ethical American businessman. He was an unapologetic industrialist. And the Folger Shakespeare Library is a triumph of American capitalism and philanthropy.” I applaud Ms. Mays’ defense of capitalism because it makes places like the Folger Library possible.
By a stroke of luck, I was in DC right after finishing this book, and although I had been to the Folger Library before, having read this text I found this time to be an even richer experience. I highly recommend reading it before a visit to the library.
Mr. Folger made sure that the following (by Shakespeare) was engraved above the main hall of the Folger Library to greet visitors, “I shower a welcome on ye. Welcome all.” His life and his gift to the world made such a welcome possible. I greatly value “The Millionaire and the Bard” because it preserves an important story that lovers of Shakespeare, the world over, need to remember.
I cannot sum it up better than Mays- “Time has performed many conjuring tricks, but few so fantastic as the making of the First Folio, and the making of the great library that preserves it.”

A postscript: Ms. Mays includes a short & informative "Notes on Sources" in this text that will add to your "to read pile". I found it interesting and it has lead me to some related reading I was not aware of, or had previously considered.

[Angela M · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars


You probably need to love the work of Shakespeare to be interested in how his plays came to be published and how some of the first folio publications came to be a part of the famous Folger collection and museum in Washington, DC.

My love of Shakespeare was born many years ago when as a college student and English major , I took the prerequisite courses of Shakespeare's Tragedies and Comedies. I have not read these plays in many years but have since then, of course , have known the tremendous impact and influence of Shakespeare in literary history . Once when on a business trip to England, I managed to take an extra day to make the trip to Stratford on Avon and for me it was a memorable literary pilgrimage to see the place where he was born , lived his later years , and died . I'm digressing, but my point is , I am one of the readers that appreciated this book .

The earlier chapters are devoted to Shakespeare's life and the author comments how so little is actually known about him . What was fascinating to me in this section was how his work first came to be published. If it weren't for John Heminges and Henry Condell , who in 1620 decided to publish Shakespeare's complete works , who knows how much or how little we would have known about Shakespeare or whether we would have had the plays to read and see and love. The world owes a lot to these men who had the foresight to recognize the genius and importance of the plays .

Subsequent chapters deal with the story of Henry Folger whose book collecting hobby turned into an obsession to buy as many copies of the First Folio as he could . Never had hoarding of "manuscripts, artworks , and memorabilia " reaped such a brilliant collection and fame for the collector. We of course owe a great to Folger .

It was not what I would call a gripping read but I certainly found it worthwhile to read .


Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley .

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a dual biography of a book and a book collector obsessed with all things Shakespeare related. I need to say that this book will probably be of more interest to the lover of The Bard than the casual reader as it delves deeply into the history and lives of the books that were still extant in the late 19th-early 20th century

Since childhood, Henry Clay Folger had loved Shakespeare and would buy inexpensive copies of the various plays which he would read repeatedly . Over the years he became an expert on Shakespeariana and in later life, when he became Vice-President of Standard Oil and John D. Rockefeller's right hand man, he could then afford to indulge his passion. He bought many rare and expensive books but was on the trail for the rarest of the rare.....the First Folio, comprised of plays and other manuscripts, edited and published by Shakespeare's business partners, friends, and fellow actors and released in 1623, seven years after the death of the Bard. Thus began the search since it was believed that one (or maybe more) of the original books still existed.

It reads like a detective story as Folger searches for the Holy Grail of Shakespeare and provides the reader a look into the world of high level book collecting and the secrecy and intrigue it involves. It is no secret that Folger finally realized his dream and became the owner of what most collectors recognize as the most valuable book in the world. An interesting study of one man's obsession and his refusal to give up his search until he was successful. Well written.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was 11:00 pm and I was sitting up in bed reading, unable to put the book down, biting my fingernails in anxiety.

I was not reading a thriller. No character was in a life or death situation.

I had to laugh at myself. I was reading to see if Henry Folger's quest to purchase a rare Shakespeare First Folio was successful.


The Millionaire and the Bard: Henry Folger's Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare's First Folio by Andrea Mays was an informative and interesting read. Mays "tells the miraculous and romantic story of the making of the First Folio, and of the American industrialist whose thrilling pursuit of the book became a lifelong obsession."

In Shakespeare's day plays were not published. The theater was about as well respected as network television is today. Paper was expensive and publishing was a long process. Plays were not 'set in stone' but adapted and altered and improved constantly. Without legal protection of intellectual rights a theater troupe's repertoire was jealously protected. Actors were given their lines, but no complete script circulated.

Shakespeare wrote plays for twenty years then returned to Stratford where he died in 1616. It was seven years after his death that his business partners in the theater, John Hemings and Henry Condell, gathered all of his work to publish thirty six plays--the First Folio. The book took years to print, one page at a time, 750 copies, and took nine years to sell out.

With each new publication of the Folios changes were made. Plays were added that were not by the Bard. Older folios were discarded, replaced by the new. The books ended up in personal libraries across Britain, often forgotten or unidentified.

One of the Gilded Age's nouveau riche industrialists was William Clay Folger, who worked with Standard Oil. He didn't make unlimited money like his employer John D. Rockerfeller. Folger and his wife Emily agreed in their early marriage to live frugally, keep their lives private, and to spend all their money on Henry's dream of building a world-class collection of Shakespeareana. Mays chronicles Folger's life long quest for all things Shakespeare with particular consideration on his First Folio acquisitions. He ended up with a third of the surviving, known First Folios. Folger was lambasted by the Brits for taking their native son's legacy out of country.

The Folgers put their collection away in warehouses across New York City, unseen for years, until in 1932 the Folger Shakespeare Library was built in Washington, D.C.

Mays points out that Folger is an example of hoarding 'done right'. The Folgers' ashes reside in the library along with their collection.

I enjoyed reading about Shakespeare's career, how books were published, the early collecting by Folger, and the building of the library. Because he bought so many First Folios it would get tedious reading about each sale, but the lesser important Folios are quickly noted. I also found interesting the viewpoint on the Standard Oil antitrust act and Ida Tarbell's journalistic attacks--a far cry from how things were perceived in The Bully Pulpit by Goodwin from the perspective of Teddy Roosevelt and the McClure's magazine staff.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Ashley Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn't planned on reading this book right-here-right-now. But I was strolling through the library en route to the kitchen the other day and stopped to pet the cat (bc cat tree --> library) and it was just there on the shelf. Screaming at me to pick it up. Sooooo glad I did.

We start out with a bit of background on the man himself, and how in Shakespeare's day plays weren't always published because they were considered a much lower, lesser art than, say, poetry. Oh, the pretentiousness. And sure, quartos were a Thing, but nobody went parading around with their complete works out in the open, let alone ensure that singular plays were published - mainly so other theatres wouldn't steal them and put them on watered-down or, you know, change the endings or what have you. But Shakespeare's friends... Shakespeare had the best friends, okay? These guys knew he was something special, and after he died they (presumably) scoured London for quartos, sides and anything else the actors might have kept, maybe even Will's handwritten scripts (drool) so they could piece the plays back together and publish them in one collected volume. This was the First Folio.

From there, we branch into Henry Folger's life - upbringing, working for Rockefeller at Standard Oil, and stumbling into his Shakespeare obsession. I deeply appreciated Andrea Mays's attention to and inclusion of Henry's wife, Emily Jordan Folger. She loved Shakespeare just as much as he did, and they made an amazing team as they worked together to track down elusive additions to their collection. The end result of the Folger Shakespeare Library was a brilliant decision on their part to see that their incredible collection was kept together so that others could benefit from it.

TLDR: If you like books and especially Shakespeare, this is FASCINATING.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley

My first introduction to the Folgers came in high school when the Shakespeare we read was from the Folgers’s Library Edition. Eventually, I made my pilgrimage to the library. If you are a Shakespeare fan, the trip is worth it, despite the small size of the place. (And it’s a relative term; the nearby museums are much bigger). Lately the last two times I’ve been there have been early, right after opening, so quiet, and the volunteers gave me very wonderful one on one tours.

Andrea Mays’ excellent book traces the Folgers, both Henry and his wife Emily, obsession with Shakespeare and the building of their museum/library as well as what is in essence, their own mausoleum.

In all honesty, I should tell you that even before leaving the chapters on Shakespeare himself, I loved this book simply for two reasons. The first is that Mays keeps off the topic of Shakespeare’s marriage. Mays simply tells you who he married. The second is the absolute awesome way she dismisses the anti-Stratfordians. After which, I put up my feet ready to follow her anyway. Of course, you might simply surrender to the book after the line, “If the Bible is the book of God, then Shakespeare is the book of man on earth” (Loc 106).

The book is more than a biography of the Folgers and the obsession that drove them for years. Mays does trace the printing of the first folio, and in fact, this section makes for some of the most engrossing reading, as well as the most humorous, reading in the book. The biography of Shakespeare that precedes this is brief, long enough to give those unfair with Shakespeare’s life enough information without borrowing the majority of readers who no doubt know the information already.

The bulk of the book is about Henry and Emily Folger, in particular Henry, and the development of their collection and foundation of the library. Emily does get less of the lime light than her husband for it was his work (and legally his money) that allowed them to pursue their interest, but Mays does shine the light on her, in particular to the end of the book. It is impossible after reading this book to see the couple as anything less than a full partnership in the collection, leading one to one wonder why the title isn’t the Millionaires and the Bard.

Mays goes into some detail about how Folger amassed his fortune, but she doesn’t go overboard, and more room is given over to the acquiring of the collection, including a brief tour of the terms that the Folgers themselves had to learn in purist of their quest. Along the way, Mays looks at Folger’s relationship to his sellers/dealers. At no point is the book ever dull, and both Emily and Henry come across not as fan boys but as dedicated and educated Shakespeareans.

The book is carefully endnoted and sourced. It is a must read for a Shakespeare lover.

[happy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this narrative, Ms. Mays not only looks at Henry Folger’s obsession, but at how the First Folio came to be and the men who compiled and published it.

The first hundred pages or so of the narrative is a look at how First Folio, the first collection of all of Shakespeare’s works, came to be and a brief look at Shakespeare’s life and work. The two men who assembled and edited the First Folio were both actors who had been members of the King’s Men (Shakespeare Theater Company) while Shakespeare was still active in that company. Ms. Mays briefly goes into whether or not Shakespeare actually wrote what is attributed to him and comes down firmly in the side that Shakespeare is Shakespeare. While discussing the assembling and editing of the Folio, the author also gives the reader a lesson in the art of 17th century printing and publishing, including the difference between a folio and a quarto - two terms that often come up in conjunction of early copies of Shakespeare's plays. She also gives an opinion on why his plays were not published before his death – it has to do with 17th century copy write law or more accurately the lack thereof.

Once the Folio is published, the author then switches to story of Henry Folger – a self-made man who through talent, hard work and probably a little bit of luck rose through the ranks of Standard Oil to eventually become President of Standard Oil of New York and amass medium sized fortune, about $14 million at the time of his death. Folger was born into the wrong branch of the Folger family – his uncle founded the Folger Coffee Company, but his father was not so fortunate – he went bankrupt while Henry was in college. Henry was only able to complete college due to some wealthy friends that funded his last two years at Amherst College.

As wealthy men of that time go, late 1800s – early 1900s, Folger lived a relatively modest lifestyle. He didn’t build a mansion, in fact lived in the same rented home in Brooklynn until his retirement. It seems his only extravagance was his collecting of all things Shakespeare. He wasn’t just collecting Shakespeareana, but he and his wife were a bit of Shakespearean scholars themselves.

In telling the tale of his collecting, the author also looks at the situation in Britain that allowed many wealthy American collectors to scoop up some of the most important of Britain’s cultural treasures and the British Presses reaction to it. The great private libraries were being sold off and the wealthy of Britain didn’t seem to care enough to buy their contents and allowed collectors like the Folgers to purchase some of the greatest examples of British literature. In talking about his methods of collecting, Ms. Mays goes to great length to describe his attempts as secrecy when purchasing items. In his collecting career, he twice set a record for the most money spent to purchase a book – once for a First Folio that could be traced to its original owner and once for what is known as the False Folio – a collection of 9 Shakespeare plays that was printed three years before the First Folio came to be. Another jewel in his collection is the only known copy of the 1594 quatro of "Titus Andronicus". This is the first known publication of one of Shakespeare's plays.

The size of the Folgers home prevented them from displaying the whole collection, so they had it stored in warehouses all over New York City. Their collection eventually grew to over 70 First Folios out of 750 printed and enough other materials to fill a library. This is exactly what the Folgers decided to do upon his retirement from SOCNY

The founding of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. and what it took to get it built is covered in the last quarter of the narrative. This is also a fascinating story of politics and how money talks. The Folgers picked out the site for the library across the street from the Library of Congress (LoC). Before construction could begin however, the Librarian of Congress tried to have their site condemned to enable to expansion of the LoC. The Folgers used every available tool at their disposal to get the Librarian to change his mind and were successful. The Folger Shakespeare Library is the result.

I feel this is a must read for any Shakespeare fan – a solid 4 star read

[Donald Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this book down. Real history, meaningful history, intrigue, passion, greed, envy, money, politics, scholarship, love, compulsion are all in this book. The author is clear, precise and insightful. She writes with a plan and flow which kept the story flowing and moving, dropping fascinating tidbits as she invoked my compulsive reading. Many may not be as enthralled and I have always struggled in reading or watching Shakespeare so it was the history and the players that snagged me. This was one of the most fun books I have read in a long time!

[Daniel Farabaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much of this book is interesting and well written. The parts on Shakespeare and the creation of his works and the folios spread are engaging. The parts on Folger's life are also good.

Three basic issues keep me from enjoying it more. First, it gets a little boring in the middle as it becomes a list of purchases. It pick up again around the creation of the library. Second, and more silly is the author's insistence that Standard Oil is unfairly tarred as having a negative legacy and that Folger's was a common man who rose to prominence. Neither of these are convincing. First Standard Oil has a justly deserved reputation for its horrible treatment of workers (Ludlow Massacre for example) and many of its business practices that have been outlawed since. Is it unabashedly awful, no but the author's Pollyanna view is off base. Secondly, Folger's grew up with advantages the common man did not. College was a possibility, he secured loans from wealthy friends to pay for it and these friends ushered him into the upper reaches of business. It does a disservice to his legacy to ignore these facts to present a contrived picture.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Digging this book out of my long library hold list and finally reading it dispelled any misgivings I have about letting things sit on my list for years. Thank you, library system, for never letting holds expire!
I don’t remember what originally got this book on my radar, but it finally floated into my notice this year, and I’m glad it did. My last nonfiction chapter-a-day book had its moments but was mostly kind of a slog, so this was a refreshing change.
I saw a play last year called “The Book of Will,” which was about how Shakespeare’s friends and fellow actors, John Hemmings and Henry Condell, assembled and published his collected plays into the First Folio. I’d never heard the story before, and it was fascinating and moving. To think—if they hadn’t loved him the way they did and wanted to preserve his works for posterity—Shakespeare was already dead when they conceived the project—we may have never known about these plays or their author.
The first few chapters of this book are about Hemmings and Condell and the publication of the First Folio, the nature of book publishing at the time, and the ensuing versions of the folio (there were four, but each one was less accurate and valuable than the first). These absorbing chapters were my favorites of the book, but I thoroughly enjoyed it all the way through.
The rest of the book is about Henry Folger—his growing interest in Shakespeariana, especially First Folios, and how it grew into obsessive, relentless collecting. By the end of his life, he had collected 82 First Folios, the largest private collection of them in the world. Along the way, the author paints a picture of Folger’s life: his marriage, his rising career with Standard Oil and his friendship with Rockefeller, his secretive collecting practices, and ultimately, his plan to house his collection in a library, rather than stashing it away in warehouses.
He and his wife were interesting individuals, and although the snapping up of so many First Folios struck me as somewhat greedy—I was glad when the Bodleian beat him out for a precious First Folio—they were portrayed as surprisingly down-to-earth and likable. His history with Standard Oil was less interesting to me, but the author didn’t linger on it any longer than was necessary.
Highly recommended to Shakespeare fans and folks who are interested in the history of publishing and book collecting. Great read!

[Collin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a little worried that I've teared up more reading this book than I have in any fiction I've read in probably the past two years (save the Books of Umber).

This is an amazingly obsessive work. I don't know much about Shakespearean history - I've just read the plays, man, I'm working up to the scholarly stuff - and you have to be so careful about trusting sources you don't know much about. But the fact that the Folger Shakespeare Library has this book prominently displayed on their website makes me more comfortable taking Mays at her word. That, and she seems to be the protege of some pretty big Shakespeareans. I trust you, Mays, though your authorial bias comes in pretty strong in a few points.

But she loves Shakespeare! This whole book is such a LOVE LETTER to the love of Shakespeare, and as an increasingly obsessed bardolater, I'm so WEAK to this kind of rose-tinted effusion. I was brought to TEARY EYES! Because of SHAKESPEARE and how Mays is so in love with his words and his impact on the world! Look at how many caps and exclamation points I'm using! Because I'm SAD and OBSESSED and I feel like Mays is my wise older sister in bardolatry!

I don't know how interesting this would be to someone who's not head over heels with Shakespeare, because even I grew a little weary at times - there are whole chapters dedicated to telegrams about Folger's pursuit of one Folio. But if you are head over heels for Shakespeare, I don't think this is one you can pass up. Maybe even if you already know some of the Folger story. (I didn't; I was an uneducated dilettante. I'm working on that now.) Mays's writing is crisp, clear, and, most importantly, enthusiastic.

Gah, she just loves Shakespeare so much. She makes me love Shakespeare even more than I already did. If I die young, bury me in satin, lay me down on a bed of my Shakespeare copies.

[Q2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This probably isn't a book for everyone! The first quarter is all about Shakespeare--the timeline of what he wrote, when, and how he was a big ol' nobody for the longest time. Then, all because a couple of his buddies decided to publish a compendium of his work, he became more and more renowned.

The rest of this book is about how, two hundred years later, Henry Folger (not the coffee one, but a relative) became a true bibliophile and antique book collector. Of course, Folger's Library still exists today (*add THAT to my bucket list!*) so he was, you know, sort of successful at amassing as much about Shakespeare as he possibly could. This book follows his acquisitions of first folios and quartos, but he also collected other ephemera about Shakespeare.

I'm not going to lie, the information about who had what folio where and how much it cost sometimes got a little tiresome. Overall though, this book is totally interesting and absorbing. My favorite part remains the information about Shakespeare. I'm distraught at how little we know for sure about him and his life. I'm baffled that he wasn't more famous in his own time. I'm fascinated with facts about Elizabethan times--paper was super expensive and super rare, which is part of the reason none of his works exist in his own hand. The theater company probably used the papers again and again, both sides. Apparently a piece of the oldest Bible was found in the binding of a book from the 1700s--all because people were serious about reusing. See? Look how much I learned. ;)

Review at http://bit.ly/1JKAqYb.

[Madeleine M · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mostly engrossing account of Henry Folger's obsessive pursuit of First Folios and other Shakespeariana. I say mostly because my attention lagged during the more detailed accounts of Folger's haggling, but it was still, overall a highly readable book. I never knew that the existence of the Folger Library in Washington, D.C. was down to one married couple: Henry Folger, a highly successful executive at Standard Oil, and his wife Emily, a fellow Shakespeare enthusiast who aided him in his researches, catalogued hundreds of thousands of items he acquired, and finished overseeing the construction of the library after her husband died before its completion.

By millionaire standards, Folger comes off pretty well. He was good at his job, and he and his wife lived modestly in a rented house in Manhattan, spending more money on storage for their various folios, quartos and pamphlets than they did on their own home. Folger's obsesssion does seem a little unhealthy – if he couldn't afford the storage units, he'd be a hoarder – and he certainly fulfills the stereotype of the American plundering Europe for its spoils. As Mays points out, however, there were even wealthier English people who could have outbid Folger, or chosen not to sell to him, in order to prevent the loss of part their county's cultural heritage. They chose otherwise.

A few bits I found interesting:

Paper in the 16th and 17th centuries was made by hand and very expensive; people wrote as small as they could and reused it when they could. The movie Shakespeare in Love shows William crumpling up sheets of paper as he writes drafts of poems and tossing them to the floor. He would never have wasted it like that.

When Shakespeare's friends Heminges and Condell decided to collect and preserve his plays after his death in 1616, they didn't have the original manuscripts. The next best source for the First Folio text would be the theatrical prompt books, legible copies made from the playwright's draft and distributed to members of his theater troupe.

The First Folio of 1623 could be purchased in unbound leaves, or in one of three leather bindings: forel (limp parchment), untanned calf or goatskin, or tanned calfskin (the most expensive option). The owner could choose to have the deckled edges trimmed and gilded. The gilt, gold leaf secured with an eggwhite adhesive, protected the text block edges from dust and moisture.

The Shakespeare Riot of 1849 resulted in at least 22 deaths on the streets of New York.

Book dealers used to have old books disbound so that their leaves could be separated and washed in bleach to make them whiter and brighter. Eek!

Only five books have been the subject of a complete census to try and locate each existing copy: Shakespeare's First Folio, Darwin's Origin of Species, Audubon's The Birds of America, Copernicus's On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, and the 1455 Gutenberg Bible.

Rare book collecting, circa 1912, was front-page news, and American papers covered the competition the way they covered sports.

[Scott Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about publishing a book, purchasing copies of that rare book and then building a memorial for said book is probably not for everyone but its right in my wheelhouse.

As mentioned in my first sentence this book is really about three things.

I will review them in the opposite order that they appear in the book because I want to end with my favorite part.

The final topic of the book is about Henry and Emily Folger planning and building the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC. Despite it being my least favorite part of the book I did find it interesting and will definitely make a point to visit the library the next time in DC. My biggest disappointment is that after reading about all these amazing copies of first folios it sounds like most are not available to the public. I certainly understand not letting the public physically handle them but it sounds like they are simply stored in secure areas that only a few people can access which seems like a total waste to me.

The most significant part of the book was about Henry Folgers obsession in buying Shakespeare publications with an intense focus on First Folios. This definitely felt a little like a high stakes scavenger hunt. Folger's frugality balanced with a willingness to pay obscene amounts for a book was unusual to say the least. I did admire his modest lifestyle despite his professional success and appreciated how much he valued Shakespeare and the first folios. I will say that I also found this part a little unsettling. I definitely found myself feeling more and more as he built his inventory like Folger was a rich kid gobbling up all the first folios because he wanted to possess them and not really for any altruistic reason. They ended up in a museum but I'm not convinced that was his plan initially. It will be easier for me to see them in DC then if they were still in Europe but it still does seem a little like a rich American robbed England of their culture.

And finally we get to my favorite part of the book which opens the novel. In my opinion Andrea Mays did a phenomenal job of researching and telling the story of the creation of the first folios. The debt that society owes to John Heminges and Henry Condell for knowing enough to pull together Shakespeares works and publish them could never be repaid. As Mays covers in depth, plays were not published at this time and books of this size were not published either because of the tremendous cost. Because of all this I do feel like each Shakespeare first folio still in existence is a treasure. I don't think its an exaggeration to say that without Heminges and Condell we would not have the majority of Shakespeare's plays.

I loved this book and really appreciate the Andrea Mays effort to bring all of this to people like me who find it fascinating.

[Leo · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 I must admit this book didn't get my full attention, and I should probably reread it one day to make sure of my rating. But I didn't find this fascinating or captivating as I had hoped it would perhaps I know to little about William Shakespeare to fully appreciate this book.

[Allen Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.themaineedge.com/style/wor...

“What’s past is prologue.” - Act II, scene i; The Tempest

Few antiquarian books are as coveted as the First Folio of William Shakespeare, the 1623 publication that essentially saved the works of our most cherished playwright from becoming literary footnotes lost to the ravages of history. One could argue that it is the most valuable book in the world.

In her book “The Millionaire and the Bard,” author Andrea Mays tells the tale of a wealthy American industrialist whose love for all things Shakespeare became an obsession, leading to the quietly steady amassing of the world’s preeminent collection of Shakespeariana in the earliest years of the 20th century.

When Shakespeare died in 1616, many of his works died with him. In his day, few truly understood the depth and breadth of his genius. When he died, the popularity of his works was waning, and a full 18 of them had never been published. It was not until seven years later that some of Shakespeare’s friends compiled copies of his plays and manuscripts – 36 in all – in an effort to memorialize their fallen comrade.

From there, it went on to be merely one of the most important English language books ever published.

Collectors yearned for their own copies of the First Folio, but few had a devotion that burned as brightly as that of Henry Folger. From his college days, Folger bore a deep and abiding love for the works of Shakespeare. That love manifested in a desire to possess pieces of the Bard himself; he collected all sorts of books and playbills and what have you, but copies of the First Folio were his most yearned-for prizes.

As he became one of the most prominent leaders of the massive Standard Oil Corporation, a trusted lieutenant of none other than John D. Rockefeller, Folger’s means began to catch up with his desired ends. Quietly, and with much attention given to secrecy, Henry Folger began purchasing copy after copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio. Condition rarely mattered as much as provenance (though when he found examples of excellence in both senses, no price was too high) – he just wanted as many First Folios as he could get.

“The Millionaire and the Bard” really tells two stories. There’s the story of how the First Folio came to be and the genius whose work populated its pages. And there’s the story of one man obsessed with a need to amass that genius. From Jacobean England to early 20th century New York City, the story ranges across the centuries with dueling narratives of art and commerce and the overlap between them.

Folger – whose name adorns the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. – was a captain of industry who also bore a deep admiration for the arts. Mays captures that dichotomy beautifully, painting a vivid portrait of a man whose quiet desires resulted in the world’s greatest collection of material regarding history’s greatest playwright. What sometimes surprises is the fact that the differences between businessman and collector are often too small to see. Folger’s quest is a compelling one, to be sure, and Mays gives it life.

The book engages and informs in equal measure; it’s a worthwhile character study of a man whose bibliophilia utterly and irrevocably altered the literary landscape. As Polonius says in “Hamlet” – “This above all: to thine own self be true.” Henry Folger undeniably lived his life by those words.

“The Millionaire and the Bard” is a must for Shakespeare fans, but anyone who loves books and the power they can hold over us will be swept up in this well-researched, well-wrought work.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given how well-researched this book is and how engaging it reads for a work of non-fiction, it's stunning to me that Andrea Mays had written no books before this -- and none since. In telling the story of Shakespeare's First Folio and Henry Clay Folger's decades-long buying spree of such, Mays has produced a work of scholarship on par with many of Erik Larson's excellent titles.

The Millionaire and the Bard offers a bit more than its title suggests. The first quarter of the book gives a brief biography of Shakespeare (for those who have been out of school for years) before describing the circumstances around the publishing of the First Folio. In the process, Mays touches on the worlds of theater, publishing, and intellectual property in Elizabethan-Jacobean England. The window and circumstances needed to assure Shakespeare's ongoing fame were small indeed, and the story of how this came about is remarkable!

From there, the book delves into a biography of the Folger family before centering on Henry Clay Folger, his rise in business, and the birth of his collecting habits. It's a testament to Mays' writing that many of Folger's individual First Folio pursuits read like small thrillers, with the audience wondering if Folger will prevail to obtain the volume in question.

The remainder of The Millionaire and the Bard tracks Folger's collection from start to finish and the founding of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. Though the book was originally published in 2015, I would have liked just a little more information on the Folger Library as it is today, particularly on how digital technology has helped to expand the organization beyond the building's four walls.

While it's obvious that Mays has a good deal of respect toward Folger -- and one would certainly need to have a positive bias toward the subject to write a book like this -- I can't help but think that Folger and other industrialists of the Gilded Age, namely Rockefeller, get a pass on being portrayed as "good" men. Truly examining these individuals is obviously outside the scope of this book, but there's little to no mention of how the early industrialists made their fortunes off the backs of the unfortunate.

For Folger himself, Mays characterizes his collecting obsession something for the betterment of mankind. This may or may not be true, but it's very clear that Folger was both an incessant micromanager who must have been impossible to deal with and someone who was incredibly stingy to his underlings. Book dealers who worked ceaselessly on Folger's behalf are nagged constantly by cross-Atlantic telegrams and paid a pittance for their service. Mays writes this off as Folger being "frugal."

This all reaches a climax near the end of the book with this passage:

Another library publication notes that 'Folger ... made [his] money in the hard-driving days of American industry, on the backs of ... oil workers.' That misguided statement reveals a sad misunderstanding about economics and the founder, and a disdain for his business. ... Henry Folger was a brilliant, ethical American businessman. He was an unapologetic industrialist. And the Folger Shakespeare Library is a triumph of American capitalism and philanthropy.

For all the research she's done, Mays seems to have a less realistic assessment of Folger than does his own library. If I have any criticism of The Millionaire and the Bard, it's that I could have done without the rose-colored glasses.

[Ted Lehmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrea Mays' The Millionaire and the Bard: Henry Folger's Obssessive Hunt for Shakespeare's First Folio (Simon & Schuster, 2015, 368 pages, $27.00/12.99) takes what could be a plodding and pedestrian account of an American millionaire industrialist's quest to purchase and hoard every available period piece relating to Shakespeare, with special emphasis on assembling First Folios, turns out to be a stunning page turner. Henry Clay Folger emerges as a gentle, ethical, thoughtful friend, husband, colleague and mentor while amassing the largest privately held Shakespeare collection in the world. Born in 1857 to a middle class family with limited resources, Folger inspired enough friendship and confidence from wealthy friends that they advanced him money to attend Amherst College and later urged John D. Rockefeller to hire him soon after he completed law school at Columbia. By the time Folger died in 1932, he had amassed the largest private collection of Shakespeariana in the world and was well on his way to completing construction of the Folger Shakespeare Library on some of the most coveted real estate in Washington, D.C. The book reads like a fast-paced adventure novel in the real world of competitive collecting and the growth of mammoth American corporations during America's Golden Age.

Folger, as both a business man and a collector, was noted for his discretion, his intelligence, persistence, and thoroughness. He rose through the Standard Oil ranks, becoming an intimate friend of John D. Rockefeller, who trusted him implicitly, relying on his careful analysis and thorough knowledge of the petroleum industry at every level for data-based information and decision-making. During the period of Standard Oil's breakup after the successful muck-raking campaign of Ida Tarbell, Folger was a key person in advising and working with Rockefeller to divide the corporation into, at least seemingly, independent corporations. He rose to become president and later chairman of the board of Standard Oil of New York. During most of his career, he and his wife Emily lived in rented housing, using their resources to amass their huge collection of Shakespeare related books, manuscripts, letters, paintings, sculpture, and other artifacts of the Shakespearean age. He bought his first First Folio, the definitive possession for Shakespeare collectors. By the time he died, Folger had accumulated eight-two of Shakespeare's First Folios, of which about 800 were initially printed in 1623, while only 233 known copies exist today. Read the rest of this review on my blog at http://tedlehmann.blogspot.com/2015/0... and please consider ordering it through the Amazon portal there.

[J. Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating read. Folger was (is -- in the book) a fascinating character. I wish I would have learned a bit more about his personal life and not just his obsession w/ First Folios. He reminds me somewhat of Albert Barnes and his single minded quest for Impressionists (mostly Cezanne and Renoir it seems to me). I learned a great deal and found it really enjoyable.

[Dan Trefethen · Rating 4 out of 5]

For fans of Shakespeare, the First Folio is iconic. Published seven years after he died, by two of his fellow actors and friends, it cemented his reputation and gave us many of his most famous plays that would never have been known. Plays were not normally published in Elizabethan/Jacobean times in a format that was considered anything but temporary. That's why so many plays from that time period are lost, or incomplete.

Of the approximately 750 First Folios published, there are probably around 240 or so still existing (the number is an estimate because many are incomplete, or comprised of loose pages).

Of those 240 or so, Henry Folger acquired 82. A third of the total in the world. This book is the story of why and how he did it.

He was rich, of course, as a senior executive at Standard Oil, but not nearly as rich as other collectors like Huntington and Morgan. He operated in secret, mostly, so the prices would not be driven up. Also, he was not interested in conspicuous displays of wealth as many rich men were, but lived modestly in a rented house for most of his life. His money went to his collections.

Since he lived in modest quarters, most of his collection was in storage. He was smart enough to realize that after he died his collection would be broken up and sold unless he took steps to preserve it. So he built the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC, near the Library of Congress, where it remains today. It is a magnet for scholars to examine multiple copies of the First Folio, and has enabled many details of its publication to be known (such as how many compositors worked on it).

The book provides a nice lesson in early techniques of book publishing as it explains how the First Folio was produced. We also get a lesson in copyright, or the lack thereof. A fair amount of time is devoted to Folger's business practices at Standard Oil, since his business habits of financial acumen and negotiation played heavily in his pursuit of Shakespeariana.

The book can get a bit bogged down in itemizing the acquisition of all 82 volumes, but the scope of Folger's collecting fever is the point of the book. The book pays homage to his wife, Emily, who was equally knowledgeable and influential, often spending hours poring through booksellers' catalogs, flagging items for possible acquisition. It was Emily who oversaw the final construction of the Library after Henry died during its construction, and Emily who provided the endowment that enabled it to survive the Depression and continue.

To this day, anyone can enter the Library and tour the Great Hall, where many items from Folger's collection are on display. There is always at least one First Folio to be seen there.

[Samantha Copé · Rating 1 out of 5]

My disdain for this book comes partially from content but mostly from context. I've been reading books about the atrocities of slavery and the continuation of trauma via memory so when I began "The Millionaire and the Bard" (out of obligation for a book club I'm in), I felt kind of disgusted by the topic: a rich white man collecting because he can. I only made it through the introduction and the first four chapters. I don't hate Shakespeare, or for that matter Folger, but what they represent: white male privilege and with that the oppression of all other great art that could've been created and preserved if white people throughout history hadn't developed a delusional superiority complex.

I learned some new things about England during Shakespeare's time, but there was too much detail (and too much opinion from the author about how great Shakespeare was and what would the world be without his work if his friends hadn't saved the plays). The research that Andrea Mays put into writing this is impressive, though.

[Gretchen Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding example of narrative non-fiction where the story sweeps the reader into new learning about historical events. In this case, the story of Henry Folger's obsessive desire during the Gilded Age to collect Shakespeare First Folios and hundreds of thousands of Elizabethan-era documents, books, artworks and other collectibles. He and his wife Emily were determined to make their forty-year collection accessible to the public and to scholars by building and funding the renown Folger Shakespeare Library. It offers a fascinating, well-researched and compelling story about Folger's single-minded passion to acquire and preserve rare books that would otherwise have been scattered. Thanks to Henry and Emily Folger, Washington D.C. hosts the finest Shakespeare collection in the world.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

All American Shakespeare lovers with an academic spirit should read this book. Mays does try to add in extra drama sometimes, but frankly, Folger is dramatic enough in his interactions with all things Shakespeare that it's not needed. The love between Emily and Henry is amazing, rivaled only by Rockefeller's love of Henry as a golfing partner. Brb crying over the digitized Titus from 1595 on the Folger's website.

[Desiree · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started out slow enough that I almost wasn't going to continue. It ended up being quite interesting - the story of Henry Folger and his quest to acquire the greatest collection of Shakespeare manuscripts and folios in the world. Although he is from the coffee family, he actually made his money working for Rockefeller at Standard Oil. Unrelated to the main story line, I also learned that Taft is the only person to have served as President and as a Supreme Court justice.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tough one, the book is well written, contains interesting facts about a man who was basically a dragon who sent out his minions to gather all the treasure of the land so no else would have them. I don't want to hold the subject of a book, a man whom I have a health contempt, who created an academic organization I have respect for, but the dude's a dragon and rich people are the worst.

[Bethany McCrady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Interesting history of Shakespeare’s plays, bookbinding, book collecting and more. Definitely miles above the majority of non fiction I’ve read lately

[Phil Cunningham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed examination of Henry and Emily Folger’s obsession with all things Shakespeare. Meticulously researched, to almost excruciating detail. At times my mind wandered, however I respect the exhaustive efforts made by the author. Learned much about the Folgers and their Folger Shakespeare Library.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. I knew nothing about Folger or his library (though I had heard of the library and know the Folger Shakespeare editions). He was one of the Gilded Age industrialists, working for Standard Oil for many, many years, but unlike most of them, didn't collect to show off his wealth. He truly loved Shakespeare's work and the pursuit of First Folios. There was a lot here also about his wife, who was an integral part of his collecting and the building of the library. Fascinating!

[Roberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good chunk of the beginning of the book is about Shakespeare and how the first folio of his work came to be published. Not what the title said the book was about but interesting and necessary background information for understanding the rest of the book.

Then the book gets to Henry Folgers obsession with buying Shakespeare's first folio. The subtitle makes it sound like he was searching for just one copy of a rare book. Even though only 750 copies of the first folio were printed, there were still a number of copies floating around and he wanted ALL of them. Every single copy. He is so obsessed with owning all the copies that he even offers to buy one that is at the Bodleian library and let them keep it there. Money is no object since he's filthy rich. So there's no suspense. "Folger never murdered a rival, never seduced a young librarian, never stole a rare book, never concocted a fraud, never forged a manuscript, and never squandered a fortune. His compulsion never turned him into a madman." and "His preoccupation with secrecy never twisted him into a paranoid recluse." Just every time he hears about a copy of Shakespeare's first folio for sale, he wants it and he has enough money to buy it. Which makes the middle of the book kind of boring. It's like reading a grocery shopping list that says milk, milk, milk, milk, milk, milk, milk, milk, milk, milk, milk, milk.

Folger was hard up for money while he was in college but things changed after graduation. How he raised the money to graduate in the book and in Wikipedia are somewhat different. The author keeps repeating that Folger wasn't REALLY rich like John D. Rockefeller (well, because no one else was as rich as John D. Rockefeller) but Folger was president of Standard Oil, later chairman of the board, and even though the money he could spend on his hobby was not limitless, it was still pretty substantial.

What made Folger different from the other rich people was that he didn't flaunt it. While the Vanderbuilts were building mansions, Folger was buying books. But the reason for Folger's initial interest in Shakespeare given in this book is different from the one given on Wikipedia.

The author also goes on for awhile, quoting Emily Folger, about Folger gathering culture to bring it to the U.S. and making Shakespeare materials available to the American public. But what Folger was actually doing looks a lot more like hoarding.

One really interesting person who makes cameo appearances in the book is Folger's friend Charles Millard Pratt (1855-1935), son of Pratt Institute founder Charles M. Pratt. Without his friendship, Folger's life would almost certainly have been very different. Another good friend, William Mead Ladd, seems to be all but forgotten now.