The Shakespeare Thefts (11 page)

Title page of the Shakespeare First Folio. London, 1623. By permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library
.

A popular pamphlet mocking Count Gondomar’s donkey litter and his “chair of ease.” By permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library
.

A Shakespeare folio censored by the Spanish Inquisition. By permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library
.

The First Folio dedication to “the most noble and incomparable pair of brethren,” William and Philip Herbert, the Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery. By permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library
.

The Old Reading Room of the Folger Shakespeare Library. Photo by Julie Ainsworth. By permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library
.

Engraving of James Orchard Halliwell. By permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library
.

Oil portrait of a gentleman, traditionally said to be William Shakespeare, ca. 1610, before restoration. From the collection of the author
.

Oil portrait of a gentleman, traditionally said to be William Shakespeare, ca. 1610, after restoration. From the collection of the author
.

King Charles I in captivity with his books, which included a Shakespeare folio, from
The Portraiture of his Sacred Majesty in his Solitudes and Sufferings.
London, 1658. By permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library
.

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, Are of imagination all compact
.

—Shakespeare’s
A Midsummer Night’s Dream

According to Sir Sidney Lee:

When I made inquiries respecting it in 1901, I was informed that the only early edition of Shakespeare’s collected works then known to be in the Duke of Norfolk’s possession was a Third Folio. Shortly after the publication of my “Census” the duke, with great courtesy, informed me that a First Folio had
just come to light at Arundel, and more recently he was kind enough to send the copy to the British Museum for my inspection. Inside the cover is pasted the book-plate of Bernard Edward, twelfth Duke of Norfolk; he was a man of some literary tastes, and probably acquired the volume soon after his accession to the title in 1815.

The earliest known owner of this particular copy (housed in the current duke’s property, Arundel Castle, in West Sussex) was Charles Howard, eleventh Duke of Norfolk. Charles was an interesting character: After his wife was declared insane, he entered into a series of extramarital relationships with women, including the Shakespearean actress Charlotte Tidswell (who looked after the great Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean when he was a boy) and his long-term mistress, Mary Gibbon (there are rumors they were married by a Catholic priest while the duke’s wife was still living—a real-life
Jane Eyre
), with whom he had several (accounts differ as to whether there were five or six) children.

I’m amazed that any woman spent time with him at all; the man had what could generously be called questionable personal hygiene: He reportedly bathed only when he was too drunk to fend off the servants who came at him with soap and water. In any case, the husband and wife had no children together, and because
the eleventh duke left no legitimate heir, the dukedom passed to his third cousin, Bernard Edward Howard—although Charles Howard’s library (which was begun by the ninth duke) did not. The twelfth Duke of Norfolk was thus obliged to buy his predecessor’s books from the executors.

From this point forward, the folio was passed down from duke to duke, but at some point the volume was mislabeled as a Third Folio. On April 13, 1902, the controller of the household at Arundel Castle wrote to Sidney Lee, who wanted to examine it, informing him “that this is not a copy of the 1st Folio.” It is always best to check in person, however. Sometimes a perceived Harris facsimile is real; sometimes a book is mistakenly identified, as in this case. Henry Fitzalan-Howard, fifteenth Duke of Norfolk, sent the copy to the British Museum so that Lee could examine the text—and it was a First Folio, after all.

The current owner is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, eighteenth Duke of Norfolk, whose library also includes a 1664 Third Folio. The binding of the First Folio is dark purple goatskin, and 100 percent of the original leaves are present. It is worn and scuffed although in good condition overall. After examining the First Folio, we now know that someone in the family was a number cruncher: Someone jotted a series of sums in the outer margin of
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
in pen:

11|9|20

2|11|13

0|7|7

In
The Taming of the Shrew
, too, someone has written a math problem in the outer margin: 23 × 7 = 161; and 161/40 | 44—possibly a division problem. More math can be found in the margins of
Richard II
.

I’ve always enjoyed how marginalia can make you feel close to the previous owner of a volume. With this copy, my team member Sarah Stewart got even closer. She made the trek to Arundel Castle as part of the research for our
Descriptive Catalogue
. She went during the winter, when the castle, located on forty acres of sweeping grounds and gardens, was closed to the public. A porter showed her to the castle security offices, and a call was promptly placed to the archives. While she was waiting to be escorted to the First Folio, a casually dressed woman entered with several dogs at her heels. She was apparently having a problem with a door in the castle; it seems it was locked when it wasn’t supposed to be, and she needed to get into the room on the other side.