Boston Public Library's Shakespeare Unauthorized exhibition on view through March 31

Boston Public Library honors William Shakespeare’s lasting legacy with its Shakespeare Unauthorized exhibition, on view through the end of the month in the McKim Exhibition Hall at the Central Library in Copley Square. The exhibition, with 54,735 visitors to date, is presented in conjunction with the ongoing BPL citywide initiative All the City’s a Stage: A Season of Shakespeare at the Boston Public Library, commemorating the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016 and connecting audiences to theater and the dramatic arts with programs throughout the library system.  Shakespeare programming continues through June, with upcoming performances by Seven Times Salt, “Sonnets and Soliloquies” by Carey and Gibson, a Lowell Lecture Series talk by Marjorie Garber, Shakespeare to Hip Hop, and more.

Boston Public Library holds one of the largest and most comprehensive publicly-held collections of Shakespeare, including the first four folios of his collected works, 45 early quarto editions of individual plays, and thousands of volumes of early source material, commentaries, translations, manuscripts, and more. Visit www.bpl.org/shakespeare to view the complete offerings of the initiative.

Shakespeare Unauthorized: Experience the original works of “The Bard”

Shakespeare Unauthorized, a major gallery exhibition on view from October 14, 2016 through March 31, 2017, includes extraordinarily rare first and early editions of familiar and beloved plays like A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, and The Merchant of Venice, as well as all four Shakespearean folios, most notably the BPL’s own copy of the world-famous First Folio. Through the pages of these precious books, visitors can experience Shakespeare in his original language and spelling, just as he would have been read by book lovers and theater-goers hundreds of years ago.

Shakespeare Unauthorized is made possible through the financial support of Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM), the global leader in storage and information management services. Based in Boston, Iron Mountain provides charitable grants of funding and in-kind services to cultural and historical preservation projects like Shakespeare Unauthorized through its Living Legacy Initiative.

Shakespeare Unauthorized contains far more than just books of plays: this exhibition features surprising rarities and mysterious objects; scandalous forgeries made by con men and accomplished scholars; books from the luxurious private libraries of early English aristocrats; and memorabilia from four centuries of acting and stagecraft.

C&G Partners created the engaging exhibition design that showcases the extraordinary historic material on display in Shakespeare Unauthorized.

About BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

Boston Public Library has a Central Library, twenty-four branches, map center, business library, and a website filled with digital content and services. Established in 1848, the Boston Public Library has pioneered public library service in America. It was the first large free municipal library in the United States, the first public library to lend books, the first to have a branch library, and the first to have a children’s room. Each year, the Boston Public Library hosts thousands of programs and serves millions of people. All of its programs and exhibitions are free and open to the public. At the Boston Public Library, books are just the beginning. To learn more, visit bpl.org.

About IRON MOUNTAIN

Iron Mountain Incorporated® (NYSE: IRM) is the global leader for storage and information management services. Trusted by more than 220,000 organizations around the world, Iron Mountain’s real estate network comprises more than 85 million square feet across more than 1,400 facilities in 45 countries dedicated to protecting and preserving what matters most for its customers. Iron Mountain’s solutions portfolio includes records management, data management, document management, data centers, art storage and logistics, and secure shredding, helping organizations to lower storage costs, comply with regulations, recover from disaster, and better use their information. Founded in 1951, Iron Mountain stores and protects billions of information assets, including critical business documents, electronic information, medical data and cultural and historical artifacts. Visit the Iron Mountain website for more information.

Image: William Shakespeare’s First Folio, 1623. Boston Public Library, Rare Books Department.