The Widening Circle: The Story Of The Folger Shakespeare Library And Its Collections
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Nestled in the heart of Washington, D.C., one of the world's greatest repositories of Renaissance knowledge was built not by a monarch or a nation, but by the quiet obsession of an American oil magnate and his wife. The Widening Circle chronicles the remarkable story of the Folger Shakespeare Library — from Henry Clay Folger's lifelong, almost evangelical devotion to collecting Shakespearean folios, manuscripts, and rare Elizabethan texts, to the institution's founding in 1932 and its growth into an unparalleled centre of early modern scholarship. Betty Ann Kane presents the Library's extraordinary collections with clarity and richness, illuminating the cultural vision that drove two private citizens to assemble a treasure trove of global significance, all to honour a single literary genius. Beyond its founding narrative, the book argues that the Folger is far more than a monument to one man's passion — it is a living, breathing cultural institution whose influence has widened across generations of scholars, artists, and readers. Kane illustrates how the collections, encompassing not only books but also paintings, costumes, musical instruments, and theatrical ephemera, paint a vivid portrait of the Elizabethan world entire. Written with authority and warmth, this is a work that will leave the reader wondering just how much of history's most extraordinary legacy still lies waiting, bound in vellum, on a quiet Washington shelf.
Author: Betty Ann Kane
Format: Paperback
Genre: History of arts
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Nestled in the heart of Washington, D.C., one of the world's greatest repositories of Renaissance knowledge was built not by a monarch or a nation, but by the quiet obsession of an American oil magnate and his wife. The Widening Circle chronicles the remarkable story of the Folger Shakespeare Library — from Henry Clay Folger's lifelong, almost evangelical devotion to collecting Shakespearean folios, manuscripts, and rare Elizabethan texts, to the institution's founding in 1932 and its growth into an unparalleled centre of early modern scholarship. Betty Ann Kane presents the Library's extraordinary collections with clarity and richness, illuminating the cultural vision that drove two private citizens to assemble a treasure trove of global significance, all to honour a single literary genius. Beyond its founding narrative, the book argues that the Folger is far more than a monument to one man's passion — it is a living, breathing cultural institution whose influence has widened across generations of scholars, artists, and readers. Kane illustrates how the collections, encompassing not only books but also paintings, costumes, musical instruments, and theatrical ephemera, paint a vivid portrait of the Elizabethan world entire. Written with authority and warmth, this is a work that will leave the reader wondering just how much of history's most extraordinary legacy still lies waiting, bound in vellum, on a quiet Washington shelf.