At the heart of the Shakespeare collection
Meet some of the Folger First Folios
Listen to a podcast episode about collecting the First Folio
Research and discovery
For many years, the Folger Shakespeare Library followed Henry Folger's guidance in describing its collection as including 79 First Folios, along with other pieces or fragments. In 2011, it began referring to the same holdings as 82 First Folios, reflecting the views of modern scholars.
The Folger collection of First Folios has made possible discoveries about early modern printing as well as other research. For example, ultraviolet images, and, more recently, multispectral images, helped to identify Folger First Folio 75 as the earliest known First Folio to leave England. Notes in Folger First Folio 54, written by a 19th-century member of the Hutchinson family, have helped to shed light on 17th-century author Lucy Hutchinson.