Afterword

I met Barbara Mowat quite soon after I arrived at the Folger Shakespeare Library, when I became the institution's first director of digital access in April 2013. As a result of an internal restructuring, I found myself overseeing the operations of the Folger's publications, chiefly Shakespeare Quarterly and the Folger Shakespeare Library editions of Shakespeare's complete works. I could tell that Barbara was slightly wary of this new arrangement, and I didn't blame her: she had poured much of her life into SQ and the editions, and a newcomer with no previous formal ties to the Folger was now charged with overseeing them.

Luckily for me, Barbara gave me a chance, and working with her has been one of the highlights of my professional life. I found that she had a generous, feisty personality wedded to an expansive intellect, embedded in the soul of a teacher. This made sense, as I learned that she had given up her position as a dean at Washington College to assume her post as the Folger's director of research. Instead of teaching dozens at a time, or overseeing the education of hundreds, she chose to influence millions.

That number is not an exaggeration: essays written during her tenure as Shakespeare Quarterly's editor continue to be read tens of thousands of times every year. The editions have sold over seventeen million copies in multiple formats, according to our publisher Simon and Schuster. The Folger Digital Texts website (www.folgerdigitaltexts.org), which freely offers texts of the editions, hosted over 280,000 visitors in 2016, and it will receive even more in 2017. For a gigantic number of people in North America and elsewhere, the gateway to Shakespeare's world is opened by Barbara and her collaborators (chiefly, her fellow editor of the editions, Paul Werstine).

Barbara enjoys hearing about the impact of her legacy, but not because she wishes to aggrandize her contributions. Although Barbara loves some of Shakespeare's works more than others, she believes that each play or poem holds out something for its readers. She speaks of Will as if he were a beloved uncle, and she is proud to further his legacy. Her work proceeds from the desire to share this love and see it kindled in others.

Barbara's success in that endeavor is undeniable. She has enlarged the universe of those who love Shakespeare, and, by doing that, she has helped preserve a priceless trove of human culture for future generations. May we all—whether at the Folger or elsewhere—live up to her spirit of selfless contribution, her devotion to her profession, and her exacting standards.