Gift of Shakespeare Quartos Strengthens Widener Collection

One hundred and fifteen Quarto editions of the works of Shapespeare constitute the bulk of one of the most valuable of recent gifts to Widener Library, made on Saturday. This collection, which will place the Harvard stock of Shakespeariana among the foremost in the country, comes from the library of the late William Augustus White '63, of Brooklyn, New York, as the gift of his family.

These volumes form the finest collection of its kind now in private hands. Included in its catalogue is a number of contemporary plays wrongly attributed to Shakespeare.

Certain Quarto Copies Unique

The Quarto editions of Shakespeare are extremely rare; certain of them exist in unique copies only, while the total number of known copies of any single volume in no case exceeds 40. Hitherto the Harvard Library has owned only three of them. Apart from their scarcity, these editions derive their chief value from the fact that they are contemporary with the author himself, while the famous First Folio was published after his death. The text of the Quartos is not always accurate, but it contains the most curious and suggestive differences from the Folio texts and is of great value to scholars.

Among the most important and valuable of the Quartos from the White collection are editions of "Love's Labor Lost", London, 1598; "Romeo and Juliet", 1599; "The Sonnets", 1609; "The Merchant of Venice", 1600; and "The Merry Devil of Edmonton", one of the attributed plays, published in London in 1608.

The accession of these volumes and of other works of the Elizabethan Age included in the White collection fills what has been an outstanding gap on the Widener shelves of English literature. The books of this collection will be of the greatest assistance to advanced students of the English drama, and will strengthen decidedly the position of Widener Library as a leading University library of the world. The British Museum Library, and the Henry E. Huntington Library of Los Angeles house other important collections of Shakespeariana.

William Augustus White, for many years a benefactor of the library, died on May 6, 1927. He had occupied a leading position in the ranks of American private collectors. A. S. W. Rosenbach of New York, one of the most prominent bookmen of the country, wrote of him: "Mr. William A. White . . . was among the earliest of our collectors to gather the choice and alluring volumes of the great Elizabethans. His judgment was excellent and he had a vivid understanding of this golden period, equalled by few scholars: He did not hesitate to lend his finest volumes to any student who showed an intelligent interest in English literature."

As soon as the books given to the Library are received and catalogued, an exhibition of them will be held in the Treasure Room