UK show reveals tawdry tale of Shakespeare folio theft

Khaleej Times

03-04-2025

The gripping tale of how a 400-year-old edition of the first collection of William Shakespeare plays was stolen, recovered and restored is to be explored in a new UK exhibition, it was announced Thursday.
The Shakespeare First Folio edition stolen from Durham University's Cosin's Library in 1998 is one of only 235 known to survive, and is valued at more than £1 million ($1.3 million).
The First Folio, published in 1623, was the first collection of Shakespeare's plays and each version is unique. It is considered to be one of the most important books in English literature.
The stolen book reappeared at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC 10 years later but experts raised the alarm about the eccentric man who came in to get it authenticated.
US police arrested Raymond Scott, coincidentally from the town of Washington in northeast England, when experts realised it was the stolen Durham First Folio, despite the book having its cover and some pages missing.
Scott, who made one court appearance dressed like Fidel Castro, claimed he found the book while on holiday in Cuba but was convicted of handling stolen goods.
He received an eight-year jail sentence but took his own life in prison in 2012.
Scott never admitted to the crime but while in jail told the local Sunday Sun newspaper about a "fairy story" in which a "person decided to live one day as a lion rather than spend his days as a lamb. To live life to the full in Havana, London, Paris."
The Shakespeare Recovered exhibition will welcome guests to the library where the crime took place, giving them an in-depth account of the efforts to restore the folio after it was returned in 2010.
"Having been at the centre of an international theft and recovery, Durham's First Folio is truly exceptional," said Stuart Hunt, University Librarian at Durham.
"The vandalism it sustained left the Folio extremely vulnerable.
"But with this comes an opportunity to closely examine an iconic object in new ways and discover more about Shakespeare's world and legacy," he added.
Without the First Folio, experts say that 18 of Shakespeare's works including "Macbeth" and "The Tempest" could have been lost.
Vandalism to the book has exposed its original binding, giving researchers evidence of how books were made in the 17th century, and also made centuries-old doodles visible to modern technology.
The exhibition runs from Friday until November 2.
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© Agence France-Presse