“The Folio was produced in a rapidly changing cultural economy in which printed artifacts, such as the Folio, began to displace, in popular culture, the largely oral culture of the stage and what had preceded it. As a Shakespeare scholar who has sought to understand the relationship of printed culture to the largely oral culture of my Indigenous grandparents and many others, I have consistently thought about that transition, its aftermath, and the value of better understanding it in understanding the many interactions of people, histories, and cultures that form our lives today.”

“Having the book here in Vancouver in 2021 on the unceded lands of the Musqueam people allows us to do what scholars around the world have been doing for a while now, and that is to think about Shakespeare’s work in place-based terms. The book’s presence here will provide us with opportunities to think about how Shakespeare’s works have been agents of colonialism and provoke us to think about the ways in which Shakespeare’s plays can help us think through local iterations of global questions about sexuality and gender, religious tolerance, politics and power, race and social justice, and even climate justice.”

“Arguably, fewer books have been invested with as much magic and one of the things that this book is going to allow us to do is to literally touch the past and come into a very different type of contact with 17th-century England. One of the things that I’m excited to do with my students is to look at how the First Folio was actually arranged. When we encounter Shakespeare today in our classes, students usually buy single edition text or anthologies that are very heavily annotated with lots of lengthy introductions, and that’s not the way in which Shakespeare’s readers—at least the First Folio readers—would have encountered Shakespeare’s plays.”

“We are thrilled to co-present and host this capsule exhibition of the Folios at Vancouver Art Gallery. This project fits with the Gallery’s history of projects that explore the intersections of disciplines, media and popular culture; and places art in broader cultural contexts. The Gallery serves as an essential site in our community for us to come together, learn and discuss the ideas of our times—and Shakespeare’s work has provoked centuries of debate. This provides a compelling opportunity to come together with our partners and create something that none of us could accomplish singlehandedly on our own.”

“This is something the whole community can get excited about and can rally around: the first printing of almost half of Shakespeare’s plays that would have been lost were it not for this book. It’s important to history, culture, and literature for so many people. It’s a tremendous moment for Arts at UBC. There are so many areas of the university that have played a role and stand to benefit. This is also a major acquisition for Canada as this Folio is being brought into the public realm and will be preserved and made accessible not only for the citizens of B.C., but also for all Canadians.”

“Digitization projects that explore emerging technologies like augmented and virtual reality offer us an opportunity to create new partnerships, perspectives and reinvent how many of Shakespeare’s characters are perceived in our modern world.”

“Christie’s was honoured to work with UBC to bring a book of such significance to world culture to western Canada. Here, it will be fully embedded in the university and wider community through wide-reading access and engagement programs, thanks to the vision and ambition of Katherine Kalsbeek and Dr. Greg Mackie. It has been one of the most gratifying projects of my professional life.”