The Folger’s printed books collection ranges from the mid-1400s—the birth of printing in the West—to the present day. The books cover literary, cultural, political, religious, and social history in Britain and Europe from the 15th though 18th centuries, with a strong emphasis on the 16th and 17th centuries. Without question, the best-known books in the entire collection are 82 copies of the 1623 First Folio of Shakespeare. Some highlights of the collection are shown here, with more information about the scope of our printed books below.
An overview of the printed book collection
Early English books
The Folger has the world's third largest collection of English books printed between 1475 and 1640, comprising over 18,000 editions, many in multiple copies. It contains another 29,000 English editions printed from 1641–1700, one of the top four such collections in the United States. These collections are supplemented by another 20,000 editions dated 1701–1800.
The Shakespeare collection
The Shakespeare collection of printed books includes 178 early modern quarto editions of the plays and poems—small, inexpensive books that began to appear during Shakespeare's lifetime. All are extremely rare, and some are the only known survivals. For example, the Folger has the only copy of the first edition of Titus Andronicus (1594).
In addition to its 82 copies of the famous 1623 First Folio, the first collected edition of the plays, the Folger collection also holds 58 copies of the Second Folio (1632), 23 copies of the Third Folio (1663–64), and 38 copies of the Fourth Folio (1685). The Shakespeare Collection also has about 7,000 other Shakespeare editions spanning the 18th century through today, including hundreds of foreign editions in more than 70 languages and many modern fine press editions.
Continental books
The Folger houses more than 35,000 early modern printed books from the European continent, on subjects ranging from religious disputes to military tactics to travel advice. About 450 are "incunables," books printed before 1501, in the infancy of printing.
Works related to the Reformation include more than 2,000 volumes by Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, and other authors. The collection also has a wealth of Italian drama, travel books, classical authors, emblem books, science and technology, military history, and French and Dutch historical and political pamphlets. It includes significant collections of printed herbals—guides to using herbs and other natural materials—and festival books—richly illustrated depictions of the public Renaissance extravaganzas that celebrated royal visits, marriages, births, and other events.
Secondary sources
Secondary sources in the Folger collection include journals, reference works, critical and historical books, and current editions of Shakespeare, including the Folger editions and the latest Oxford, Cambridge, and Arden editions. The Folger also holds many facsimiles of early books and subscribes to a number of electronic resources that provide digital editons and fascimiles of early books.