William Shakespeare
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ontents Illuminating Shakespeare n 1926 the English artist Alberto Sangorski completed a commission of an illuminated manuscript that was destined for the most important collection of Shakespeare and Shakespeariana ever assembled. The manuscript contained a selection of Songs and Sonnets by William Shakespeare. Sangorski copied the poems by hand on vellum leaves Illuminating Shakespeare and illuminated the contents of the book with original drawings and embellishments. He also included an essay by Sir Sidney Lee, the noted Shakespeare scholar, titled Daniel De Simone “A National Hero: Tributes of Three Centuries,” commemorating the three-hundredth anniversary ix of the death of Shakespeare in 1916. The London bookselling firm of Messrs. Robson & Co. The Facsimile commissioned the work, which they sold to Henry Clay Folger of Brooklyn, New York. Alberto Sangorski (1862–1932) was the older brother of Francis Sangorski, partner with George xv Sutcliffe in the London bookbinding firm of Sangorski and Sutcliffe. Gifted in the arts and Shakespeare as a Lyric Poet experienced in working with precious stones, Alberto joined the firm and was trained by Francis in calligraphy and bookbinding. In 1904 he produced his first original manuscript for Sangorski and Barbara A. Mowat Sutcliffe, Of Gardens, by Francis Bacon, and signed the colophon, “Written out by A. Sangorski, May 79 1904.” He continued working with Sangorski and Sutcliffe until 1910, when, after falling out with his brother, he went to work for another important London bindery, Rivière & Sons, where he continued About the Authors his trade of designing manuscripts and executing commissions under his own name. 1 His 86 bibliographer Stephen Ratcliffe writes of Sangorski’s artistry, “his first talents were painting and The Original Cover drawing. He always had good hand writing and so calligraphy was a natural development… . A final skill… [was] illumination, not just in colours but in the difficult art of raised gold. These talents [that] 86 he brought together in these manuscripts are a wonderful achievement.” 2 Acknowledgments By the time he completed Songs and Sonnets, Sangorski had already produced eighty-two illuminated manuscripts for the binderies of Rivière & Sons, Bayntun, Morrell, and Sangorski and 87 Sutcliffe, as well as commissions for booksellers and collectors. The subjects of his manuscripts focused almost exclusively on poetry. He would render the most famous poems from the works of Browning, Byron, Emerson, Thomas Gray, Keats, Shelley, and Tennyson in particular into works of calligraphic art. Each was embellished with original watercolor drawings depicting idealized landscapes, fanciful portraits of authors and poetical characters, illuminated initial letters, and decorative border work. The manuscripts were executed in the medieval manner, but exhibited the pronounced influence of the Art Nouveau sensibility fashionable in his day. This facsimile edition of Songs and Sonnets by William Shakespeare, published by Levenger Press, is reproduced from the 1926 manuscript by Alberto Sangorski that is among the holdings at the Folger Shakespeare Library. 3 It was written on eighty vellum leaves, illustrated with twenty full-page and twelve half-page illuminations, eight illuminated vignettes, and initial letters and For ease of reference and to maintain the integrity of the facsimile, page numbers in this edition have been set to conform to those imprinted on the facsimile, and are ix expressed only on those pages preceding or following the facsimile pages. William Shakespeare Songs and Sonnets border designs decorating twenty-two leaves. The original was bound in full red levant morocco, the president of Standard Oil of New York and John D. Rockefeller’s right-hand man, Folger spent his upper cover decorated with an inlay of solid 18-karat gold depicting Shakespeare’s coat of arms, set free time buying books, reading bibliography, and cultivating his relationship with booksellers and within an oval pattern of gilt flowers and leaves. The crest was enclosed by a border designed in a auction houses. After fifty years of collecting, he was immersed in the details of purchasing the land classical wreath motif of green leather and gilt. on East Capitol Street in Washington, D.C., where he intended to construct his library. He knew that ach corner of the front cover Each corner of the front cover was embellished he would need hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a library to house his collection; although was embellished with with sapphires mounted in 18-karat gold, and the against his nature, he was reluctant to buy books at the same time, as he was attempting to save his covers were additionally decorated with a black money to pay for the library construction. Although Folger was well known as a collector of sapphires mounted in 18-karat gold. line border, a gilt dot pattern and a single fillet gilt Shakespeare, having received in 1914 an honorary doctorate from Amherst College in Massachusetts border. 4 On the final leaf of the book, Sangorski in recognition of his prowess in this arena, he was extremely private about what he owned. He signed his work and acknowledged Robson & Co. maintained an embargo on his collection, fearing that news about it would raise prices and as the firm that commissioned its production. It is not known for certain, but probably Sangorski compromise his ability to buy books. Scholars, designed the binding and Rivière & Sons bound the book. particularly English scholars who witnessed the e maintained an embargo on The inspiration for Sangorski’s Songs and Sonnets appears to be an edition with the same title loss of their cultural patrimony to American his collection, fearing that published in 1863 by Howard Staunton, containing forty-four songs and poems from Shakespeare’s collectors like J. P. Morgan, Henry Huntington, sonnets and plays. It is illustrated with woodcuts by Sir John Gilbert (1817-1897), 5 the noted and J. Marsden Perry, were furious that Folger news about it would raise prices and illustrator and painter, who was active through much of the Victorian period. Gilbert’s woodcut would not open his then-private library for their compromise his ability to buy books. designs evolved over his career from an emphasis on atmosphere and tone to images that reflected use. Folger’s plan was simple. When the Folger a sparser, more economical line with minimal background and contrast. He was prodigious in his Shakespeare Library was completed, and all the output and a highly regarded member of both the Society of British Artists and the Royal Academy. 6 thousands of books housed in wooden crates in Standard Oil’s warehouses were on the shelves, he One of Gilbert’s favorite subjects for illustration was the works of Shakespeare. Between 1859 and would then invite scholars to examine his collection. Until that time, he would maintain his privacy 1861 he made eight hundred twenty-nine designs for a three-volume edition of Shakespeare’s Works, and the mystery of what his collection held. a publication that “earned him his greatest fame as an illustrator.” 7 It must be said, Henry Folger would not have been able to accomplish this feat without his wife, Sangorski includes twenty-four songs and sonnets in his manuscript, sixteen of which appear in Emily Jordan Folger (1858-1936), whom he married in 1885. A Vassar graduate, Emily complemented the 1863 edition that Staunton published. He also copied three of Gilbert’s vignettes and adapted Henry’s interest in Shakespeare, and wrote her master’s thesis in 1896 on the Bard, titled “The True three other images, making changes that better reflected his understanding of the songs. Using Text of Shakespeare.” She worked side by side with Henry, reading catalogs, doing research, writing previously published works as a source of inspiration is not unusual for an artist, and Sangorski’s letters, and keeping track of the thousands of purchases that the Folgers made over the decades. She appropriation of the text and images from the 1863 edition does not reflect on his gifts as an artist. was involved in the decision to build the library in Washington, D.C., and in choosing Paul Cret as the Rather, it suggests that while researching the Bard’s songs and sonnets, he himself became inspired by architect of the library building. Emily was Henry’s partner in this endeavor from beginning to end, the artistry of one of England’s most important nineteenth-century illustrators. and her importance is represented in the Reading Room of the Folger Library in the form of a In a December 23, 1926 article in the Times Literary Supplement, 8 the editors described portrait that hangs next to one of Henry. Both are dressed in their academic garb. 9 Sangorski’s masterpiece and emphasized its connection with the work of medieval scribes, whose It was not until the Folger Shakespeare Library opened in 1932, two years after Henry’s death, tradition of creating illuminated manuscripts and beautiful books was realized in this stunning that the scope of their collection of Shakespeariana was revealed. It is not immodest to say that production. The editors also wrote that this richly illuminated manuscript was destined for the Folger’s collection is the greatest assemblage of materials by and about William Shakespeare ever United States, although the collector who purchased it was not identified. On January 11, 1927, the formed. The British Library in London and the Bodleian Library in Oxford have extensive bookseller George Robson sent a receipt for payment of £300.10.5 for “the unique and beautiful collections, but together they do not come close to the Folgers’ achievement. Henry Folger purchased Shakespearian work” to H. C. Folger of New York, along with a copy of the Times ’s article. eighty-two copies of the First Folio edition of the collected plays of Shakespeare printed in 1623.