Several leaves in the plays As You Like It and King Lear bear stage directions, notes, and revisions, suggesting that this First Folio belonged to a director or an editor. Until the early 1900s, the existence of this copy of the First Folio was unrecorded; it does not appear in Sidney Lee’s Census of the Shakespeare First Folios (1902). Henry and Emily Folger purchased it for $7,500 in 1912.
Of special interest, one of the leaves in Romeo and Juliet includes original proofreader’s marks. At the same time, this First Folio, like many others, has missing leaves. The first leaf, Ben Jonson’s “To the Reader,” is missing and was supplied in facsimile. At least five other leaves were replaced with original leaves from other First Folios.
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Sophisticating the First Folio
This week we will continue our discussion of the First Folios currently on display in the Folger Shakespeare Library exhibition, First Folio! Shakespeare’s American Tour. This post will look at their “sophistication.” A “sophisticated” or made-up book is a defective…
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Shakespeare First Folio
The First Folio is the first published collection of Shakespeare’s plays, produced seven years after his death. Learn more about this book and see inside.
About the Folger First Folios
The Folger has 82 First Folios of Shakespeare, the largest collection in the world. Explore research, discoveries, and the stories behind the books.