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Shakespeare & Beyond

Shakespeare, in the original Klingon

The Klingon Hamlet
The Klingon Hamlet
Shakespeare in the original Klingon. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) Directed by Nicholas Meyer Shown from left: David Warner (as Chancellor Gorkon), Christopher Plummer (as General Chang), William Shatner (as Captain James T. Kirk), Walter Koenig, Leonard Nimoy (as Captain Spock), Nichelle Nichols, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). Directed by Nicholas Meyer. Shown from left: David Warner (as Chancellor Gorkon), Christopher Plummer (as General Chang), William Shatner (as Captain James T. Kirk), Walter Koenig, Leonard Nimoy (as Captain Spock), Nichelle Nichols, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan. Paramount Pictures.

Did you celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Star Trek episode last week? You’ll be happy to know that Star Trek has a place in the Folger collection!

Like most libraries, the Folger has a collection development policy that helps us choose what materials to acquire; this makes sure that we use our budget and our space effectively. We have several major areas that we focus on: materials that help us understand the world Shakespeare wrote in (such as personal letters and 16th-century recipe collections), materials that demonstrate the impact Shakespeare has had on popular culture (such as many of the items featured in our exhibits this year), and of course, editions of Shakespeare’s works themselves.

We especially try to collect editions of Hamlet: we have over 500 printed copies of that play alone, including manuscript copies, promptbooks used in plays as early as the 18th century, translations in several dozen languages, and even a copy in the original Klingon!

Comments

One of the special editions of the DVD for the film includes a full video extra called Klingons and Shakespeare where they show some of our being performed on stage. I can’t find the information on just which version it is, but you may want to look for it for your collection. In the meantime, someone has posted it to YouTube: https://youtu.be/RF0k4qV1I1Y

Jeremy Cowan — December 13, 2016

Howdy. I actually have the limited 1996 hardcover edition of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark in Klingon. It’s a hoot. I think my copy is number 683 / 1000. It’s just been sitting in a protective bag in a box since I got it in 1996-ish. I’ve never even opened it all the way so the spine isn’t creased. The collector in me wouldn’t let me read it.

Mike — November 11, 2018