Gregory Doran on Auckland Libraries' First Folio

Nau mai haere mai - Welcome to a session from the Reading Room of Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero, Central City Library, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. In this podcast, we are delighted to share the recording of Greg Doran’s visit to the Auckland First Folio in June 2023. Greg Doran, artistic director emeritus of the Royal Shakespeare Company is on a tour of surviving first folios sponsored by the British Council. https://www.britishcouncil.org.nz He comes to us after visiting First Folios in Japan and most recently Sydney, at the State Library of New South Wales. Next stop Cape Town. Our First Folio has travelled the furthest from the Print House in London, some 11,386 miles in fact. The Folio has had an active life, most recently getting some attention from David Ashman, our Preservation Manager. The Folio can be handled more easily post-treatment. The tangible evidence of the preservation treatment (including leather shavings and “gutter sweeping”) is now stored in a bespoke archival box with the Folio itself. In this recording, Greg meets our unique annotated Folio and talks with an interested party – including retired rare books librarian Georgia Prince who curated the exhibition Shakespeare in his time which featured 17th century rare books from the Heritage Collections. We also had a moment with the Shakespeare bronze, affectionately referred to as the ‘Beadle bust’ – named for the sculptor Paul Beadle. The bust entered stage left during our discussion – returning to its plinth after a stint on the Ground Floor of our busy public library. Let’s give Greg the floor to share his close reading! Listen to David Ashman’s preservation treatment: https://soundcloud.com/auckland-libraries/sets/celebrating-shakespeare Shakespeare in his time – 2016 curator talks: https://heritageetal.blogspot.com/2016/06/shakespeare-in-his-time-curator-talks.html The Beadle bust: https://heritageetal.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-shakespeare-beadle-bust-origin-and.html