Folio-phernalia » Folio 400 - Printing Shakespeare

interesting and discerning material related to all aspects of Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories and Tragedies,
First Ed. 1623.

Professor Emma Smith

The Munro First Folio

22nd February 2021

“Shakespeare’s high cultural status in the age of empire really transformed the First Folio into an iconic object.”

Professor Farah Karim-Cooper

First Folio; first encounter.

16th February 2021

“The first thing I did, oddly enough, was sniff it.”

Sir Simon Russell Beale

The Miraculous First Folio

10th February 2021

“This astonishing book is evidence of the love and respect that Shakespeare elicited from his friends and colleagues.”

Professor Eric Rasmussen

Every Six Years

20th January 2021

First Folios missing, stolen, recovered and discovered.

Dominic Dromgoole

The First Folio and The Holy Grail

18th January 2021

“There is throughout the sense of a draft, and the wonderfully scrappy, open-to-chance nature of Elizabethan playwriting.”

Margaret Ford (Christie's)

The Shuckburgh Folio at The Globe

23rd April 2016

“Untouched for over 200 years, it is still in beautiful condition.”

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.