Jaunted

Tags: Museums / Culture Travel / William Shakespeare / Summer Travel / Theater / → All Tags

Old Stuff Travel: Rare Shakespeare Recovered in DC

A stolen copy of the First Folio, the first known collection of William Shakespeare's plays, turned up last week in DC when a rare-book enthusiast took it to the Folger Shakespeare Library. In a case of no good deed goes unpunished, the British man is being considered a suspect in the 1998 robbery of the document from Durham University in England.

While not as rare as the Holy Grail (or even Crystal Skulls!), First Folio copies are still relatively rare, and the Folger has the largest collection in the world, with 79 of the estimated 228 left in the world. (A thousand were supposedly printed.) In case you have one stashed under your mattress, it could be worth over $6 million at auction.

Dead tree media not your scene? See one of the First Folio plays, "Hamlet," for free at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre (16th St. and Colorado Ave. NW) this summer with the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Pick up your gratis tickets at the Washington Post office every weekday or at the theater on the day of the show. But leave kids under 10 at the nunnery, as this show contains "sexual content."

Related Stories:
· Stolen Shakespeare First Edition Found in Washington [AFP, via Yahoo]
· Winchester Mystery House Blogger Talks [Jaunted]
· Washington, DC coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: manfire]