Shakespeare’s First Folio on Display Temporarily in Boise

This year marks 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare. His poems and plays still being performed today at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. What if those poems and plays had died with Shakespeare 400 years ago? They almost did, had it not been for a single book: the 1623 First Folio.

The First Folio is being loaned to Boise State University, for the next 30 days, from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. It's being displayed at the Yanke Family Research Park in Boise.

The book was compiled by John Heminge and Henry Condell, two actors that were friends of William Shakespeare, back in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare's death.

It includes 36 of his plays, 18 of which would have been lost because there was no printed edition.

Some of those plays include Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and Macbeth. There are only 235 known copies of the book in the world, which is why it's always under controlled temperatures, humidity, and light control.

The First Folio will be on display seven days a week in the Arts and Humanities Institute Gallery at the Yanke Family Research Park until September 21st.

Check it out for yourself at 220 Parkcenter Boulevard in Boise.