Cedar City • The renowned Shakespeare plays Macbeth, The Tempest, Julius Caesar and others would have been lost to history if not for two actors who collected all of the Bard's works after his death and had them published for the first time together in London in 1623.

About 750 copies of what is now known as the First Folio were printed. Of those, about 250 are known to exist today and one of the rare volumes is on display at the Gerald R. Sherratt Library on the campus of Southern Utah University.

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., loaned the volume to SUU. It has 82 copies of the book as part of the largest collection of Shakespeare-related items in the world.

The book, under a glass case and opened to the title page featuring a portrait of the writer, will be on display at SUU until Oct. 15 and commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Utah Shakespeare Festival, held on the campus in the summer and fall.

Along with the First Folio, early quartos of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet, also printed in the 1600s, are on display.

John Eye, dean of library sciences at SUU, said the book is so rare and valuable that transporting it from the Folger Library to Utah in June required two first-class plane tickets — one seat for the person transporting it and one seat for the book itself.

Paula Mitchell, archivist for the SUU library, said the book, printed on rag paper, contains the Bard's 36 tragedies, comedies and historical plays.

The only plays not included that scholars believe might have been written by Shakespeare are Two Noble Kinsman and Pericles.

She said the book is considered "priceless," but noted she heard of one being sold in 2004 for $6.2 million.

Mitchell said the opportunity to view the book has attracted a steady stream of Shakespeare fans.

"Many are just mesmerized," she said. "They get very emotional and some come back every day."

One of those overcome with emotion when seeing the book was Nevada visitor Jeff Caine, who said he has not been moved by such a display since seeing a touring exhibit several years ago of the U.S. Constitution.

"It's incredible," he said of the First Folio.

Janet Seegmiller, who heads special collections at the SUU library, is hoping the exhibit will attract a good crowd to the library's fundraising gala Oct. 8, when the public is invited to learn about opportunities and resources the facility offers.

She said anyone can purchase an SUU library card for $30 that will allow them to check out materials.

Steve Enniss, the Eric Weinmann Librarian, an endowed post at the Folger Shakespeare Library, said the Folger opened in 1932 to display a collection of Shakespeare items collected by Standard Oil executive Henry Folger and his wife, Emily.

He said the Folger Library is dedicated to the lifelong obsession Folger had with Shakespeare after listening to a talk by American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson while attending Amherst College.

Enniss said that the First Folio is one of the rarest books printed in English and comparable to the first printing of the King James Bible.

It is not a common practice for the Folger to loan out a First Folio for display outside the library, he said.

"We had a good deal of discussion and decided to lend one [to SUU] for the anniversary of their festival," he said.

mhavnes@sltrib.com —

To see the First Folio

P The folio is on exhibit until Oct. 15, in Special Collections at Southern Utah University's Gerald R. Sherratt Library. The exhibit is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Admission is free.