200 year old Shakespeare folio discovered, Also, Robert Bereny's painting, "Sleeping Lady" discovered

A valuable Shakespeare folio, one of 230 believed to still exist was discovered in the library at Saint-Omer, undisturbed for 200 years because nobody could read it and nobody cared. A Medieval literature specialist found the folio while searching for books to use in an exhibition. A librarian there said, "Oh, that beat up old thing? We use pages to line our parakeet cage."

↑ Contains mostly fact.

The Guardian.

It looks like a book. What is the difference between folio and book? 

In printing the term folio means three different things.

1) a printing on a full sheet of printing paper divided into four sections.

2) referring to pages bound but not numbered, and printed pages of leafs referenced verso and recto but not necessarily attached to each other directly.

3) meaning an approximate size of usually 15 inches. Distinguished from quarto and octavo.

Next, lost for 90 years, an avant garde painting, Sleeping Lady With Black Vase by Robert Bereny was noticed by a researcher at Hungary's National Gallery in Budapest that was used as a prop in the children's film Stewart Little. The painting was returned to Hungary.

The researcher recognized the painting immediately having seen only a faded black and white image of the painting in 1928.

↑ 100% of true fact.

The Guardian.

Care for another related true story? 

An anecdote, actually.

Decades ago a portion of the art collection owned the American oil magnate Armand Hammer known chiefly for his business Occidental Petroleum and his deep ties with the Soviet Union railroad construction, (they have dreadfully long railroad lines over there) was on tour at the Denver Art Museum. This was before the Hamilton building addition.

The exhibit was advertised in two page center spread, a cheap pulp folio as it were, in the Rocky Mountain News with an array of thumbnail photographs of the oil paintings on display. 

And they were good ones too. That guy had it on. Only the best. 

Armand Hammer. What a handle. 

Naturally, I looked at each of the thumbnails with care. To see how much I recognized. I was interested in seeing the show. I told my girlfriend at the time but it turned out to be a hard sell. I urged her, "Come on. This is a one-time dealio. They have a lot of famous paintings and those things are different than photographs that are adjusted this way and that (as we see by the two samples of Sleeping Lady With a Black Vase), up close in real life you are always surprised by the size of things and by texture." In reviewing the thumbnails with her she asked why I had circled some of the tiny photographs. I go, "Because they are printed backwards. They botched them in the printing."

The printers were not careful with negatives. Museum people goof on a lot of things. Adding printers unconcerned with art details like that to the mix complicates their task further. There are a lot of details to keep straight and so many people involved with such a large project. I am certain a curator was appalled. It's the type thing we would talk about at cocktail parties. 

She said, "You know, Chip, sometimes you're just so full of shit." 

Harumph. 

Sometimes I am not taken seriously. 

Imagine that.

Best not to argue. It's tedious. 

So I have to deliver it.

Story compressed: I folded the spread and saved it in my sport coat pocket for the visit to the museum together without mention. La la la, take that, Bitch."And that, and that, and that. 

Respect mah authoritah!

She acted amazed. Partially because I was familiar with paintings she didn't know about. But she shouldn't have been. 

It's a thing. It just sticks with visually minded people. I don't doubt for a second the Hungarian woman spotted the avant garde painting after decades and seeing it only once and only a black and white print. In her circle they're all like that.