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You will find a list below of where and when you can see an original copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio across the UK (and elsewhere) ranked in their distance from William Jaggard’s Print House.
Distance from Jaggard's Print House
Venue, Location
Date on display
0.5 miles
Guildhall Library, London
24th April 2023
Monday 24th April, 10.30am to 3.30pm
Free entry
1.0 miles
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, London
On display every day
Open every day, 10.00am to 5.00pm
throughout the year. Free entry.
The ‘Munro’ first folio is on daily display in a special cabinet that incorporates a short film and slide show on the making of the First Folio. The Folio is normally open at a play in performance at the Globe.
1.9 miles
The British Library, London
On display every day
Open every day; Monday to Saturday, 9.30am to 5.00pm
(Sunday 11.00am to 5.00pm)
Free entry.
4.2 miles
The V&A, London
Dates TBC
Open every day; 10.00am to 5.45pm
(except Fridays; 10.00am to 10.00pm)
The V&A’s ‘Forster’ First Folio is on display in the Theatre and Performance Galleries room 103 now and throughout 2023.
Three further First Folio happenings, both digital and ‘in person’ will take place at the V&A during 2023.
Details follow (here and on the V&A website).
5.6 miles
The National Maritime Museum, London
31st March to 24th September 2023
31st March to 24th September 2023
10.00am to 5.00pm (suitable for all ages)
Free entry.
‘The Tempest and the Thames’
The ‘Dulwich College’ First Folio will be displayed in Maritime London. The display marks the 400th anniversary of the First Folio’s publication and draws out the links between the nautical in Shakespeare’s work and the city in which he wrote.
Sunday 23rd April 2023
10.00am to 5.00pm
Free entry
Folio 400 Celebration
On Shakespeare’s birthday, special tours of the Tudor and Stuart Gallery and the Queen’s House will be held alongside the display in the Maritime London Gallery.
Friday 8th & Saturday 9th September 2023
‘Shakespeare and the Sea’
A two-day hybrid conference on Shakespeare’s relationship with the sea with speakers including Prof. Steve Mentz and Emma Smith (Oxford).
57.4 miles
King’s College Library, Cambridge
8th September 2023
Friday 8th September 2023
10.30am to 4.00pm
Free entry.
‘Shakespeare and Theatre in Cambridge’
First, Second and Fourth Folios alongside items from the archives showcasing the history of theatre in Cambridge and King’s College.
59.2 miles
Queens College, Oxford
23rd April 2023
23rd April 2023
11.00am to 4.00pm
Folio400 at Queen’s College
The College’s First Folio was once owned by David Garrick, the great Shakespearean actor and theatre manager.
59.3 miles
Weston Library, Oxford
25th February to 14th May 2023
25th February to 14th May 2023
Monday to Friday 10.00am to 5.00pm
Saturday 11.00 to 4.00pm
Free entry.
‘Thou Art Translated’
An exhibition displaying a First Folio alongside a selection of translated texts, from Albanian to Xhosa.
59.3 miles
Blackwell Hall, Weston Library, Oxford
Saturday 4th March 2023
Saturday 4th March, 10.30am to 3.30pm. Free entry.
First Folio Day: ‘The Bard at The Bod’
Taster talks, hands-on-activities, discussions and pop-up performance.
77.7 miles
Winchester College, Winchester
20th April to 20th November 2023
20th April to 20th November 2023
Everyday 2.00pm to 4.00pm
Free entry.
An Exhibition; The First Folio and books linked with it (Jonson’s Folio, some contemporary quartos, Holinshed, North’s Plutarch and Golding’s Ovid plus Pope and Theobald material).
A catalogue of the exhibition will be written by the boys and girls of the sixth form.
For school/large parties please email to arrange; [email protected].
102 miles
The Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon
25th March to 5th November 2023
25th March to 5th November 2023
Everyday 10.00am to 4.00pm
‘To The Great Variety of Readers: Celebrating 400 years of Shakespeare’s First Folio’.
An exhibition at New Place in Stratford. The ‘Ashburnham’ First Folio will be on display together with the gold ‘W.S.’ signet ring (believed to belong to Shakespeare) and the miniature notebook belonging to one of Shakespeare’s earliest fans that was discovered on the Antiques Roadshow.
(ticket allows access to ALL Shakespeare Birthplace Trust sites)
109 miles
Longleat House, Wiltshire
20th April to 29th October 2023
20th April to 29th October 2023
Included on Guided Tours of Longleat House
£4.95 in addition to day ticket or annual pass
‘Folio 400: Shakespeare treasures at Longleat’
A display featuring the Longleat First Folio, the Peacham drawing (the only surviving contemporary illustration of a Shakespeare play), and the Longleat portrait of Shakespeare (derived in 1704 from the Chandos portrait).
195 miles
Brotherton Library, Leeds
29th March to 24th June 2023
29th March to 24th June 2023
Tuesday to Saturday 10.00am to 5.00pm
Free entry
The ‘Brotherton’ First Folio will be on display. On May 3rd, Emma Smith will present a talk. More details to follow.
199 miles
John Rylands Research Institute and Library, Manchester
Saturday 22nd April 2023
Saturday 22nd April 2023
11.00am to 4.00pm
Free entry
Meet curators and researchers at the University of Manchester to examine and learn about texts illustrating the global connections of Shakespeare’s works from his time to the present. Hear short readings and talks and see our rarely displayed First Folio on display in the stunning surroundings of the Historic Reading Room. Watch our Columbian press in action and take home a Shakespeare quote during a printing demonstration.
219 miles
The Craven Museum, Skipton
Monday - Saturday throughout the year
Monday to Saturday,
9.30am to 4.30pm, through out the year
Free entry
This copy of the First Folio belonged to local businessman John James Wilkinson. His family owned Primrose Mill in Embsay, along with tobacconists and grocers’ shops. John was also a noted scientist and amateur playwright, co-writing a play about Skipton. When John died, he left his First Folio to his sister, Ann. She bequeathed it to the museum in 1936.
360 miles
Old Trinity Library, Dublin
14th April 2023 to (TBC)
14th April 2023 to (TBC)
Monday to Saturday – 8.30am to 5.00pm
Sundays – 9.30am to 5.00pm
The Trinity College First Folio, plus other items including Irish editions of Shakespeare.
(entry with Book of Kells Exhibition ticket, €18.50)
Plus an Online Exhibition for free!
Thursday 13th April 2023
(time and title TBC)
Lecture on Trinity’s First Folio by Professor of English, Andrew Murphy.
Friday 14th April 2023
Free, but ticketed by Eventbrite
One day symposium ‘Shakespeare the Irishman’ wit invited speakers.
370 miles
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Foundation Corboud, Cologne
3rd March to 11th June 2023
3rd March to 11th June 2023
Tuesday to Sunday 10.00am to 6.00pm (closed Mondays)
Entry €8.00/€4.50; free for Ukrainians (with ID)
‘The Whole Drama’
The Cologne First Folio (one of the few graded 1A by Sidney Lee) surrounded by forty works from the art and theatre world.
402 miles
The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh
September 2023 - (dates to be confirmed)
April and September 2023
(dates to be confirmed)
Free entry.
405 miles
The Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow
22nd & 23rd April 2023
Saturday 22nd April & Sunday 23rd April 2023,
10.00am to 5.00pm,
Free entry.
Once owned by J.O Halliwell-Phillips who described it as his ‘second best’ First Folio, being neither ‘ragged nor rotten’.
443 miles
Marble Hall, Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute
17th April to 3rd May 2023
17th April to 3rd May 2023
Saturday to Wednesday
(Closed Thursdays and Fridays)
Opening hours; to be confirmed.
572 miles
Lyrik Kabinett, Munich, Germany
24th April 2023
24th April 2023, 7.00pm
Entry €8/€6, LK Members free
‘All the World’s a Book; the 400th birthday of Shakespeare’s First Folio’
An evening of poems, written especially for the subject by Albert Ostermaier, Uljana Wolf and Marcel Beyer (present) and UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, Lavinia Greenlaw and Ulrike Draener by video-link. Moderator Tobias Döring.
An original First Folio will be on display.
The poems will also be available to read and enjoy on this site.
11,386 miles
Auckland Libraries, Auckland,
New Zealand
23rd April 2023
23rd April 2023
The Auckland Libraries First Folio will be on display on the 23rd April 2023.
Details to follow.
Find out more about events being planned to mark the 400th Birthday of The First Folio.
The First Folio is one of the great wonders of the literary world. Published in 1623, seven years after the death of its author, it was the first printed edition of Shakespeare’s collected plays. Without this achievement, we would have lost half of his dramatic work. This website is dedicated in gratitude to the 400th birthday of this foundational book on the 8th November 2023.