American Collector Bequeths Rare Shakespeare Collection to Globe Theatre

Posted on November 7, 2008

American collector John Wolfson has pledged to donate his rare and valuable collection of Shakespeare's writings to the Globe Theatre. The Globe is the sole beneficiary of more than 450 works.

Published in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare's death, at least 750 first folios were printed, of which only about 230 are known to be in existence. The book is valuable from a theatrical point of view because it included 18 plays that have otherwise disappeared, and copies have grown increasingly expensive in recent years: Sotheby's set a British auction house record in 2006, when it sold one for £2.8m. The world's largest collection of first folios is kept at the Folger Library in Washington, which owns no fewer than 79.
Wolfson's donation, to be made after his death, also includes a multi-million-pound selection of works by Christopher Marlowe, Ben Johnson, Thomas Middleton and John Ford, among others.

Wolfson says in a statement to the Guardian, "What happens to most collections, unfortunately, is that they get broken up. Having witnessed the break up of many collections, I consider myself fortunate to have found a place for my books at Shakespeare's Globe. Here it will be possible for the collection, which I have put together, to remain together, and to be used to great advantage by students, scholars and educators for generations to come."

Needless to say, the Globe's CEO Peter Kyle is absolutely thrilled by the gift, which will help the Globe's fundraising campaign to build a new library which will allow it to properly store and display the works. What a marvelous bequest. We do hope that the Globe's library includes plans for a state of the art security system.