Follow WTOP鈥檚 Matt Kaufax as he explores hidden gems, local landmarks and unique stories across the D.C. area every week. New episodes of WTOP鈥檚聽鈥淢att About Town鈥�聽segment are released each Tuesday and Thursday.
If you venture through a maze of hallways, past layers of tight security, and cross the threshold of what looks like an old-fashioned bank safe door, you’ll arrive at one of the rarest collections of books not just in the nation’s capital 鈥� but in the entire known universe.
In Thursday’s episode of “Matt About Town,” WTOP’s Matt Kaufax returns to the Folger Shakespeare Library; this time, with exclusive access to their rare vault.
Not many know this vault contains texts dating back to the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, which scholars come to D.C. from all over the world to study.
In the vault, intricate bindings litter what feel like miles of shelving, with dates that are hard to comprehend: 1625, 1577, even as early as 1482. And of course, some of the books have the face of history’s most famous playwright, William Shakespeare, on their title page.
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