The author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland gave this beautiful edition of A Midsummer Night's Dream to his illustrator for Christmas
Lewis Carroll gave this lovely 1868 edition of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” with delicate cut-paper images by Paul Konewka, to his illustrator for “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” John Tenniel.
The five most popular #FolgerFinds in 2017
Take a look at our five most popular #FolgerFinds posts on Instagram, from early modern eclipses to the first edition of Shakespeare’s “Richard III.”
Shakespeare's ghost revealed!?
Transparencies, popular in the late 1700s, use back-lighting to reveal a secret image. See one from the Folger collection that reveals Shakespeare’s ghost in Westminster Abbey.
Two Shakespearean actors, a book, and a biographer corrected
Famous Shakespearean actress Ellen Terry (1847-1928) took the liberty of correcting certain biographical errors in a book about her friend Henry Irving.
What's my line? Exploring promptbooks for Othello
Promptbooks let us peer into the minds of some of history’s greatest theater-makers and see how they imagined Shakespeare’s plays.
Dig into the Folger's vault for #MuseumWeek
It’s #MuseumWeek, and the Folger is sharing recipes from Shakespeare’s time, stories of swords and duels, and a little bit of tennis.
A tale of three playbills: The Lighthouse, The Frozen Deep, and The Merry Wives of Windsor
See playbills from the Folger collection of amateur (and fundraising) performances by Charles Dickens, from Wilkie Collins to Shakespeare.
Misanthropes: Wyndham Lewis and Timon of Athens
Some of the most engrossing illustrations of Shakespeare’s rarely performed tragedy come from Wyndham Lewis, an early 20th-century artist who, like Timon, was a misanthrope.
A Hamlet that's almost too fragile to open
The pages of this 1930 edition of Shakespeare’s Hamlet look insect-eaten or worse, but they’re actually made out of sheets of cork, not paper.
A solution for pollution?
In honor of Earth Day, here’s a prominent early modern treatise against air pollution in London from the Folger collection: “Fumifugium,” published in 1661.
W. Heath Robinson: Shakespeare Illustrated by "Britain's Rube Goldberg"
Known for his complex imaginary contraptions, W. Heath Robinson also produced exquisite illustrations for editions of Shakespeare’s works.
The smallest Shakespeares in the Folger collection
Henry Altemus’ magnificently miniature copy of “The Children’s Shakespeare” by Edith Nesbit is the Folger’s smallest Shakespeare edition. The title page’s portrait of Shakespeare is only six millimeters long. Like the book’s text, it is not discernible to the naked…