Provenance
John Burns
The UBC Shakespeare Second Folio originally belonged to the library of John Elliot Burns (1858-1943), a British labour leader and Socialist. He was the first person of working-class origin to enter a British cabinet (1905) (Britannica). He was an avid book collector who created a considerable personal library, most of which became part of the Senate House Library at the University of London (“John Burns Collection”).
His name appears on the third page of the folio. The 1944 catalogue of his library states “Mr. John Burns never had a bookplate, but he wrote his name in nearly all his books. We give specimens of his earlier and later signatures” (Sotheby). Confirming his ownership, as you can see below, the signature on the folio (right) matches that of his catalogue (left).
1944 — Sotheby & Co. Sale
Lot 592, Shakespeare Comedies, Histories, And Tragedies… The Second Impression, was sold in the afternoon of Wednesday, April 25th, 1944 on 34 & 35, New Bond Street, London. It was the third and final day of a Sotheby & Co. sale, featuring “books on various subjects” from “the famous library of the Right Hon. John Burns, P.C., M.P. [Sold by the order of the administrators]” (Sotheby 1). Two days later, the purchase made a brief appearance on the second page of the The Times of London. Tucked fleetingly under “The Sale Room” column titled “Mr. John Burns’s Library”, the writer mentioned “another copy, bearing the imprint of Robert Allot, £370” (“The Sale Room”). For interest, loosely converted to pounds today (considering historical UK inflation), this translates to £15,500, or $21,555 USD (Morely).
An Anonymous Buyer: Walter Koerner
An account regarding the identity of the Folio’s buyer at the Sotheby & Co. sale is something this investigation lacks. There is however, evidence that the Folio eventually belonged to Mr. Walter C. Koerner. Whether or not the buyer was Koerner himself, remains to be determined. In a letter from UBC’s Archival Materials, University Librarian Neal Harlow expresses his “great gratitude” to Mr. Koerner for his “gift to the University Library of the Shakespeare Second Folio” (Harlow). The letter is dated June 9th, 1960.
The Folio made itself at home in the University Library. One of its earliest visitors, Ethel Wilson, recounted the experience to Alan Crawley in a letter,
We also saw the precious folioe [sic], 4 lent permanently by the Folger Shakespeare Collection, & a 5th (Second Folio) given by Walter who had acquired it in England. It had belonged to Rt. Hon. John Burns the Labour minister decades before. And before that? I know not. Two of the folio’s histories cannot be freed — the others I could not discern. (Wilson 5)
Her letter is dated December 5th, (likely) 1961, and further corroborates Walter Koerner’s generous donation. Again, whether he acquired it in ‘England’ from the Sotheby sale or from someone else, is still unclear.
Since then, the Folio has remained at the University of British Columbia under the astute care of the Rare Books and Special Collections division of the UBC Library. In the words of Michelle Blackwell from the RBSC, as new additions are welcomed into the collection, they “(join) other famous books at RBSC, such as the Second Folio of Shakespeare, donated by Walter Koerner in 1960” (Blackwell).
