The Folger has a small collection of 24 comedias sueltas represented by early editions of the two greatest Golden Age playwrights: Calderón (21 titles) and Lope de Vega (3 titles). Librarians at the Folger Library are perfectly cognizant of the literary connection between Spanish Golden Age drama and Shakespeare’s plays. However, they chose several decades ago not to compete with large collections such as the one at the Hispanic Society Museum and Library and University of North Carolina Library.
It was not difficult for Caroline Duroselle-Melish to gather, and for Beth DeBold to photograph the 24 titles. It was our team’s first experience doing original cataloguing from images, relying on Folger’s catalog records for pagination, collation, and call number. Yes, they are unusual—very local—call numbers.
