Shakespeare’s Priceless First Folio Found in a Library In Northern France

A copy of Shakespeare’s first folio on display at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. Photo: Andreas Praefcke via Wikimedia Commons

A librarian in Saint Omer, Northern France, has stumbled upon a 1623 copy of William Shakespeare’s First Folio, AFP reports. Remy Cordonnier found the rare compilation of the Bard of Avon’s plays while preparing books for an exhibition on English literature.

“It occurred to me that it could be an unidentified First Folio, with historic importance and great intellectual value,” he told AFP.

The book has now been authenticated by one of the world’s leading Shakespeare experts, Eric Rasmussen of the University of Nevada, who said it had been 10 years since a new copy had been discovered.

He told AFP that the ancient manuscript was “immediately identifiable,” thanks to recognizable features such as unique markings, paper weight, and a series of errors found only in this particular edition.

Although books of such scarcity fetch top prices, the Saint Omer copy has several flaws, including missing title pages, heavy annotations, and the absence of the entire play The Two Gentleman of Verona.

Assessing the damage, library director Francoise Ducroquet estimated that the book would likely be worth substantially less that the €2.5 – €5 million other volumes of the First Folio have achieved at auction.

Of an estimated original print run of 750, only 233 copies of the First Folio have survived.

Culled from artnet

5 Lessons For Artists (And Fans) From Amanda Palmer

After giving a popular TED Talk about her record-breaking Kickstarter campaign, Amanda Palmer decided to pen a book about her experiences with asking her fans for support.

Amanda Palmer talked to BuzzFeed about her new book, The Art of Asking.

Via amazon.com

The musician (who formerly worked full-time as a living statue) talked to BuzzFeed about what she hopes artists and fans will take away from her experiences.

1. There is no “right” way to make money as an artist.
“I think the key is just a general kind of allowance for artists to use the tools they want, connect with the audience in their own style and unique way, and I think the world would be best served backing off a little bit with all of this extreme judgement — ‘U2 is doing it wrong’ and ‘Taylor Swift is doing it wrong’ — and instead just take the wider perspective that we’re all just doing things differently. Every artist has a different relationship with their fans, with their business, and the playing field is very wide. So I support Taylor Swift’s decision to take her music off Spotify if she wants to — it’s her prerogative as an artist — so if she wants to take her music off, good for her, as long as she doesn’t judge me for keeping my music on Spotify.”

Via Facebook: amandapalmer

2. You can absolutely make your own opportunities.
“I actually just did an interview in London about a research project that found that women are far more successful at crowdfunding than men are. I found that fascinating, especially in a world where industries can be very sexist and women find themselves locked out of opportunities because it’s a boy’s club. It’s great that they can sort of skip that hurdle and say, ‘Hey, crowd, I don’t need the system — I have you.’”

3. Remember that artists need fans as much as fans need artists.
“One of the best house parties was when I drove to Portland from Seattle, stuck in a traffic jam and right before I left, I got my first death threat. It was right around the time of the Boston marathon bombing and I had written an entry for a blog that a lot of people really hated, and on the website someone wrote that they were going to track me down and kill me. I wasn’t really scared of some wacko but it wasn’t a pleasant feeling, being stuck in traffic for seven hours with that. By the time I showed up to the house party an hour late, there were all these wonderful people in the backyard already drinking and bonding and loving each other and I just totally needed them more that night than they needed me.”

Via Facebook: amandapalmer

4. You also never know who might become a friend.
“There’s a chapter in the book about me and a massage therapist named Courtney. I was just in Courtney’s car, getting a ride to the airport and when you get to that chapter, you’ll understand how significant that is because she was a huge Amanda Palmer hater. It was right after the Boston bombing and life was really shitty and I was getting a lot of hate from a lot of sites for a lot of reasons. It was my birthday, and Neil [Gaiman, author and Amanda’s husband] and I were in Seattle to deliver a couple of house parties and Neil decided to treat us both to a massage for my birthday. He booked randomly online and an hour later, we walked into this girl’s office and when she saw me … she said, ‘When I saw your names, I thought it was my friends playing a practical joke on me. I need to talk to you. I am a person who’s been writing horrible, excruciatingly mean things to you on my blog and you might not want to get on my massage table.’ And I got on her massage table and she massaged me for an hour while I lay there and cried. It was just this moment of total dual forgiveness. And we’ve become friends.”

5. Never be afraid to ask.
“Ask where the benevolence is and don’t spend your time dwelling on anger and resentment toward the people who aren’t inclined to help you. The world owes you nothing and as a musician, you’re not entitled to anything but you can most certainly ask for what you need and see who is heeding your call.”

To learn more about the book, click here.
You can also follow Amanda Palmer on Twitter here.

BuzzFeed

Winners of the Golden Baobab Awards for 2014 Announced

The following is an official press release from the organization that hosts the Golden Baobab Awards. The awards recognize authors and illustrators of African children’s literature…

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We are proud to announce the winners of the 2014 Golden Baobab Prizes:

• Portia Dery, from Ghana wins the Golden Baobab Prize for Picture Books with her story, Grandma’s List.
• Mary Ononokpono, from Nigeria, wins the Golden Baobab Prize for Early Chapter Books for her story, Talulah the Time Traveler.
• Xanele Puren, from South Africa, wins the inaugural Golden Baobab Prize for Illustrators. The Golden Baobab Prize for Illustrators is the biggest and most prestigious prize committed to discovering, nurturing and celebrating talented African illustrators of children’s stories.

The 2014 Golden Baobab Prizes for Literature and Illustration received nearly 300 submissions from writers and illustrators across Africa. The longlist for the literature prizes was announced early September and showcased 11 stories, selected from 6 African countries. The shortlist followed late October with 11 stories from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The illustration prizes unveiled 3 shortlisted artists; 2 from South Africa and 1 from Ghana. This year’s prize winners represent three countries: Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa.

This is the sixth year of the Golden Baobab Prizes, which were established in July 2008 to inspire the creation of enthralling, culturally relevant African children’s stories by African writers. “We are proud of the contribution we are making to the children’s literature and illustration world and are actively searching for exciting partnerships to expand our reach and impact across Africa. We are seeking major corporate partnerships by our next prize season to further propel our vision of making the heads of children across Africa beautiful places for them to live!” says the Executive Director of Golden Baobab.

Today, the Prizes offer $20,000 in monetary awards, publishing opportunities for winners of the Picture Book and Early Chapter Book Prizes, and the winner of the Illustration prize attends a Golden Baobab award ceremony and a traveling exhibition of artist’s illustrations.

Judges for the 2014 Golden Baobab Prizes are Summer Edward, Anansesem Caribbean Children’s Literature Ezine founder and editor, Nancy Drost, Seasoned international educator, Kinna Likimani, Mbaasem Foundation board member and celebrated book critic, Doreen Baingana, Multiple award-winning Ugandan author and former chairperson FEMRITE, Nonikiwe Mashologu, African children’s literature critic, Kanengo Diallo, 13-year old Tanzanian winner of the 2013 Golden Baobab Prize for Rising Writers, Paul O. Zelinsky, International Award-winning American Illustrator and Writer and Caldecott Medalist, Akua Peprah, Early Childhood Educator and Kofi Kokua Asante Anyimadu, 8-year old Ghanaian book lover.
Also shortlisted were:
Shaleen Keshavjee-Gulam (Kenya) – Malaika’s Magical Kiosk
Mandy Collins (South Africa) – There is a Hyena in my Kitchen
Myke Mware (Zimbabwe) – The Big Ball
Bontle Senne (South Africa) – The Monster at Midnight
Mamle Wolo (Ghana) – Flying through Water
Hillary Molenje Namunyu (Kenya) – Teddy Mapesa and the Missing Cash
Jayne Bauling (South Africa) – The Saturday Dress

Last year’s winners of the Golden Baobab Prizes were Liza Esterhuyse and Karen Hurt from South Africa and Kanengo Rebecca Diallo from Tanzania.

ABOUT THE GOLDEN BAOBAB PRIZES
The Golden Baobab Prizes for literature was established in July 2008 and inspires the creation of African stories by gifted African writers and illustrators to captivate children’s minds. The Prizes invite entries of unpublished stories and illustrations created by African citizens irrespective of age, race, or country of origin. The Prizes are organized by Golden Baobab, a Ghana-based pan- African social enterprise dedicated to creating a world filled with wonder and possibilities for children, one African story at a time. The organization’s Advisory Board includes renowned authors Ama Ata Aidoo and Maya Ajmera. Golden Baobab is proudly supported by Echoing Green and The African Library Project.
For further information, photos or to arrange interviews, please contact: Eunice Ahenkorah via info@goldenbaobab.org
Tel: +233 50 529 8941
Website: www.goldenbaobab.org