Shakespeare's hair [realia].
1820
Items
Linked e-resources
Linked Resource
Digital image(s) of Folger Shakespeare Library ART Inv. 1004
Details
Title
Shakespeare's hair [realia].
Created/published
[London?], [Before 1820]
Description
1 item : strand of hair affixed to sheet of paper ; 26 x 21 cm
Material base
paper
Note
Strand of hair mounted with letter of certification and visiting card.
From Tregaskis catalog: "Shakespeare. One Hair of Shakespeare's Head, mounted on a 4to sheet of paper, in gilt frame, glazed, 2 guineas. This is one of Ireland's unique and interesting, but impudent impostures. It is now from the collection of Captn. Bernard Smith, Eaton Sq., and its whole history is succinctly given on the quarto sheet before us. "Shakespeare's Hair enclosed in a letter from S. Ireland, Junr. to Mr. Bindley, Commissr. of the Stamp Office, and sold by Mr. Evans at Mr. Bindley's sale, Tuesday, 8th Aug., 1820." Below is the visiting card of John E. Hussey Taylor, Esq., its second owner, asking Captn. Bernhard Smith to kindly accept it; and above, the words 'Given to me Aug. 24th, 1866, by J.E.H. Taylor, Esq. [signed] W.J. Bernhard Smith."
Note from dealer dated Feb. 26th, 1896: "Dear Sir. We are obliged for your order -- we have removed the hair & letters &c. from the frame & put it inside an old cover & sent by book post registered. We had to take out of the frame or could not have sent it."
Purchased from J. & M. Tregaskis, cat. no. 355 (Feb. 1st, 1896) item no. 651.
Title handwritten on mount.
From Tregaskis catalog: "Shakespeare. One Hair of Shakespeare's Head, mounted on a 4to sheet of paper, in gilt frame, glazed, 2 guineas. This is one of Ireland's unique and interesting, but impudent impostures. It is now from the collection of Captn. Bernard Smith, Eaton Sq., and its whole history is succinctly given on the quarto sheet before us. "Shakespeare's Hair enclosed in a letter from S. Ireland, Junr. to Mr. Bindley, Commissr. of the Stamp Office, and sold by Mr. Evans at Mr. Bindley's sale, Tuesday, 8th Aug., 1820." Below is the visiting card of John E. Hussey Taylor, Esq., its second owner, asking Captn. Bernhard Smith to kindly accept it; and above, the words 'Given to me Aug. 24th, 1866, by J.E.H. Taylor, Esq. [signed] W.J. Bernhard Smith."
Note from dealer dated Feb. 26th, 1896: "Dear Sir. We are obliged for your order -- we have removed the hair & letters &c. from the frame & put it inside an old cover & sent by book post registered. We had to take out of the frame or could not have sent it."
Purchased from J. & M. Tregaskis, cat. no. 355 (Feb. 1st, 1896) item no. 651.
Title handwritten on mount.
Exhibited
Washington, D.C. Folger Shakespeare Library, 2016. Will and Jane: Shakespeare, Austen and the Cult of Celebrity.
Linked resources
Digital image(s) of Folger Shakespeare Library ART Inv. 1004
Genre/form
Human hair.
Place of creation/publication
Great Britain -- England -- London.
Item Details
Call number
ART Inv. 1004
Folger accession
cs272