There was a hush in the room as visitors milled from display to display. In the center of the peaceful room lay a first edition reprint of the First Folio, the book that brought us Shakespeare.

“Shakespeare himself is entombed in his works,” Adam G. Hooks, a professor in the University of Iowa Department of English, said.

The First Folio is on display in the University of Iowa Main Library Gallery from August 29th through September 25th.

“Go straight to the Folio and absorb it, and read the text. It is almost like a Rosetta Stone,” Claudia McGehee, an Iowa City based children’s writer and illustrator, said. “Some of the designs on the page are beautiful.”