THE KNOWLEDGE OF SHAKESPEARE.
One bequest in the will of the late Henry Clay Folger is distinctly unusual. It creates a foundation for the develop- ment and diffusion of knowledge of Shakespeare, and specifically to ensure the completion and maintenance in ' perpetuity of an unique Shakespeare Memorial Libmrii which is now being crectzd in- Washington. The cost of
building the library, which will include reading-rooms, an exhibition - gallery and- a reproduction of an Elizabethan theatre, was provided by Folger before his death, In addition he has given to the nation his world-famous collection of Shakespeareana, including seventy first folios, the. unique Gwynn volume, nine Shakespeare plays in an original quarto reprint of 1619, some six hundred complete sets of different printings of Shakespeare's works, and more than two hundred thousand valuable manuscripts, books, pamphlets and art objects relating to Shakespeare and other Elizabethan dramatists. This collection is to be housed in the Library. Folger, who was formerly the chairman of the -Standard Oil Company, New York, was an ardent student of Shake- speare,nnd began to collect Shakespenreana when a student at Amherst College fifty years ago. Under the provisions of his will a fund of not less than ten million dollars is created for the permanent maintenance of the Memorial and for additions to it. The .fund is to be administered by the trustees of Amherst College.
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