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Folger First Folio 33

Detail of printed page showing lower portion of two columns of text. Left column includes

Henry and Emily purchased this First Folio in 1903 for $825. In 1875, its pages were completely taken apart (or disbound) to be photographed for the first-ever photomechanical facsimile of the First Folio. Like many other First Folios, it is missing leaves in the introduction and its final play, Cymbeline. Original leaves from other First Folios were used to replace four missing leaves in The Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Henry IV, Part 2.

First Folio 33 was the “understudy” copy for the 2016 tour First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare. Although it never left the Folger Shakespeare Library on the tour, it was prepared to travel just in case another First Folio needed to be pulled from the lineup.

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Shakespeare’s First Folio has been under the microscope for centuries, studied by historians, students of literature, and actors, as well as by those who are convinced that the works of the Bard are hiding something. As many of you may…

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