As part of Rhodes College’s 175th anniversary celebration, University of Oxford professor Emma Smith will present “What Is Shakespeare’s First Folio—and Why Should I Care?” on Oct. 19. Free and open to the public, the lecture is funded by the Pearce Shakespeare Endowment and begins at 5 p.m. in Blount Auditorium of Buckman Hall on campus.
This year marks 400 years since the first published collection of Shakespeare’s plays, which is titled Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories & Tragedies and commonly known as the First Folio. Smith’s talk will introduce what is significant about this book, and what copies can reveal about the way it was put together and the uses to which it has been put over the last four centuries.
Smith is best-selling author of This Is Shakespeare and Portable Magic: A History of Books and Their Readers. Portable Magic recently was shortlisted for the United Kingdom’s prestigious Wolfson History Prize.
In celebration of history, join the Rhodes community for the lecture by Smith on Oct. 19. Those with specific inquiries about the event can contact Dr. Scott Newstok, professor of English and director of the Pearce Shakespeare Endowment, at newstoks@rhodes.edu.