The First Folio is one of the great wonders of the literary world.
Published on 8th November 1623, more than seven years after the death of its author, it was the first printed edition of Shakespeare’s collected plays. This website is dedicated to this achievement, without which we would have lost half of his dramatic work.
Explore the process behind the creation of Shakespeare’s First Folio.
Find out about the principal characters involved in the First Folio’s publication.
The approximate date each play was written, its route to print, a brief synopsis of the plot and spoken words from the First Folio.
Listen to speeches from all the plays while you read with ease the words as they appear in the First Folio.
How many copies of the First Folio survive and where were they 400 years on?
How many copies of the First Folio survive
and where were they 400 years on?
Articles written for Folio400 by Shakespeare scholars, experts, writers and performers together with a video of the First Folio in the Globe Theatre.
