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Shakespeare First Folio (Bodleian copy)

1623

Held by Duke Humfrey's Library, Bodleian, Arch. G c.7read here

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The Bodleian's First Folio is Shakespeare's collected plays as printed in London in 1623, thirty-six plays in one volume. It carries verse by Ben Jonson, Leonard Digges and Hugh Holland, and the Droeshout portrait in its second state. This copy lacks the first leaf, the address 'To the Reader'. Hard use shows in the pages of Romeo and Juliet, the most thumbed play in a 1917 record.

Where it happens

  1. London Where the Folio was printed in 1623.12
  2. Oxford, Bodleian Library Acquired the book in 1624 and bought it back in 1906.1
  3. Ogston Hall, Derbyshire Home of the Turbutt family, who held the book after 1664.1

Through time

  1. 1623First Folio printed in London.12
  2. 1624The Bodleian acquires and binds the copy.1
  3. 1664Sold to Richard Davis for 24 pounds.1
  4. 1906Bought back by public subscription for 3,000 pounds.1

Who is in it, and behind it

William Shakespeare playwright

The author of the plays collected here.2

John Heminge and Henry Condell editors

The actors who gathered the plays.2

Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount printers

Printed the volume.12

Martin Droeshout engraver

Engraved the portrait.12

Leonard Digges poet

Wrote a commendatory poem in the book.1

Hugh Holland poet

Wrote another poem in praise.1

What it is about

Eighteen plays saved

Eighteen of the thirty-six plays had never been printed before.2

A chained library book

The copy was chained in Duke Humfrey's library.1

Wear as evidence

Thumbing shows which plays readers used most.1

Pages worth stopping at

  1. Image 0The upper board of the binding.1
  2. fol. πA4vRecto of the poem by Leonard Digges.1
  3. [Names verso]Recto of the poem by Hugh Holland.1
  4. [Holland poem verso]The catalogue, the table of contents of the plays.1

How it came to be here

Two actors, Heminge and Condell, edited the book, and Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount printed it. The Bodleian got the copy in early 1624 and had it bound on 17 February, then chained it in Duke Humfrey's library. In 1664 it was sold for 24 pounds after the Third Folio replaced it. It passed to the Turbutt family of Ogston Hall, and in 1906 public subscription bought it back for 3,000 pounds. About 750 copies were printed and 235 are known.

Free to read elsewhere

Sources

  1. Bodleian Digital Library: First Folio, Arch. G c.7
  2. Wikipedia: First Folio

Images: © Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. CC BY-NC 4.0.

Holder's record · IIIF manifest

Also from Duke Humfrey's Library, Bodleian