History West Midlands On Air

Hidden away and forgotten by most of the people of Birmingham is the world's first great Shakespeare library. It is one of the city’s best kept secrets, known only to a few academics, here and overseas. But when it first opened its doors to the people of Birmingham in 1868, the Shakespeare Memorial Library was the envy of the world, which looked to Birmingham as the home of a comprehensive ‘Civic Gospel’. This was the concrete expression of the vision of George Dawson (1821-1876) – Birmingham’s forgotten philosopher-prophet.  And the Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library is one of its most important surviving legacies. Dawson conceived of a library where the Bard and his works would belong to every citizen, not just a cultured elite or academia. Paid for by public subscription, this world-class collection includes more than 40,000 volumes – among them the only Shakespeare First Folio in the world bought as part of a vision of comprehensive (including working-class) education.  And it still belongs to the pe