Shakespeare's rare First Folios now shared with public

STORY: This is the world's largest Shakespeare collection.

It's housed in Washington's Folger Shakespeare Library.

And starting on Friday, the public will be able to see 82 copies of the English author and poet's "First Folio" editions, printed 400 years ago.

"The First Folio is a book that was printed in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare died. Two of the guys in his acting company decided that they should put all of his plays together, 36 plays together, and print them all in one book."

That's Dr. Peggy O'Brien, the library's Director of Education, who helped dig the prints out from its refrigerated vault and put the exhibition together.

She said, without these First Folios, many of William Shakespeare's plays would not have been known to us, from Macbeth and Julius Caesar to The Taming of the Shrew.

Experts believe there are 235 authenticated copies in the world and, according to O'Brien, the Folger Shakespeare Library is home to more than a third of them.

These priceless books were previously only accessible by academic researchers.

Now the library wants to share them with the public in this exhibition.

But not everything is behind glass...

"...You pull this like you would in a print shop..."

They call this the "Print Shop", where people can try their hand at setting type as it was done back in 1623.

"I see a man's life is a tedious one."

And the "Shake Up Your Shakespeare" installation, which gives people a chance to banter with someone else using lines from Shakespeare.

"I will bite thee by the ear."

O’Brien said the exhibition also hopes to spark questions and start a conversation about Shakespeare.

"Some people like to say, well, Shakespeare is universal, he's universally great, he relates to everybody. Well, he might relate to everybody, but he was a white guy, you know, who was born in 1564... is he a hero to you or an icon? Or is he the title on a book that you never wanted to open? I think lots of people have different opinions about Shakespeare.”

The exhibition also marks the grand reopening of the Folger Shakespeare Library, after a four-year renovation.