THE FOLIO SOCIETY

The makings of the 'First Folio'
When William Shakespeare died in 1616, only half of the 36 plays then wholly or partly attributed to him had been published. These were produced in single-play editions ('quartos') notoriously prone to textual abridgement or corruption. Such was the way in Jacobean London. Theatrical companies, not surprisingly, were more than happy to keep plays out of print, particularly if they had Shakespeare writing for them. To publish a script was, after all, to give other companies license to stage rival productions.

But two actors, John Heminges and Henry Condell, believed that only a complete and authoritative volume of the plays could serve as a fitting memorial to Shakespeare. Determined to rectify the inadequacies of the 'quartos', they worked from reliable sources such as Shakespeare's original manuscripts and theatrical prompt books, so as to arrive at the most authentic version of each play's text. Combined with the protracted business of securing publishing rights, putting the collection together took several years. In Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, Heminges and Condell were fortunate to find sympathetic publishers.

Printing got underway at Jaggard's shop in the Barbican, London, in early 1622; the exact number of finished copies is not known, but it is believed around 1,000 were finally published by November 1623 under the title Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. Prefaced with commendatory verse from Ben Jonson, amongst others, and Martin Droeshout's famous engraving of Shakespeare, it was the first book of its size to be completely devoted to dramatic works.

Published according to the True Originall Copies
It is impossible to overestimate the importance of the 'First Folio'. Without it, 18 plays, including Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night and The Tempest, might never have been published at all, while many more would have survived only as pale imitations of the texts we know today. Any credible modern edition of the plays featured in the 'First Folio' uses it as the major source.

The Norton Facsimile consists of photographic reproductions of original 'First Folio' pages from volumes in the Folger Shakespeare Library. The text is exactly as it was set by Jaggard's compositors, complete with all the idiosyncrasies of 17th-century spelling and typography.