The story of the first folio has always fascinated me – it has as many twists and turns as the plays it contains. It is one of the most famous books in the world, inspiring readers, intriguing scholars and even motivating crime: a book dealer was jailed after taking a stolen volume to the one place it would be recognised instantly, the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC.
The first folio was the first collated edition of Shakespeare’s plays, published in 1623, seven years after his death, by two of his friends John Heminges and Henry Condell. It is fascinating in its own right (no two editions are the same), and its significance in Shakespeare’s legacy cannot be overstated. Without it, half of Shakespeare’s plays would not exist today including Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Julius Caesar and The Tempest. Of the 750 copies that were printed, only 233 survive (three are with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust) and every now and then an unknown one will emerge to much excitement.
Delia Garratt is the director of cultural engagement at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
The first folio was the first collated edition of Shakespeare’s plays, published in 1623, seven years after his death, by two of his friends John Heminges and Henry Condell. It is fascinating in its own right (no two editions are the same), and its significance in Shakespeare’s legacy cannot be overstated. Without it, half of Shakespeare’s plays would not exist today including Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Julius Caesar and The Tempest. Of the 750 copies that were printed, only 233 survive (three are with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust) and every now and then an unknown one will emerge to much excitement.
Delia Garratt is the director of cultural engagement at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
