FirstFolio1

Answer prepared by: Julia H. ** Innovative and intriguing, the First Folio was a significant step in the honor and preservation of Shakespeare's works, and it can still be found today. The First Folio was the first collected edition of all of Shakespeare's plays. Without it, the genius of 18 of Shakespeare's plays, including //Macbeth//, would be unknown to the world, as explained on The Folger Shakespeare Library Website on the web page, "The First Folio." Published in 1623, The First Folio was not published until seven years after Shakespeare's death, as explained in the book __Shakespeare__, by Peter Chrisp. Two of Shakespeare's fellow actors, John Heminges and Henry Condell, published Shakespeare's plays in a leather bound folio, planning "only to keep the memory of so worthy a friend, as fellow alive, as was our Shakespeare," and not to seek wealth (Chrisp 60).
 * WHAT IS THE FIRST FOLIO AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? WHAT STILL EXISTS OF THE FIRST FOLIO? WHERE IS THE WORLDS LARGEST COLLECTION OF EXISTING FIRST FOLIOS TODAY? HOW WAS THIS COLLECTION AMASSED? WHERE ARE OTHER COPIES NOT IN THIS COLLECTION TODAY?

The word folio, latin for leaf, refers to a book with extremely large sheets of paper, folded in half to make pages 15 inches tall, as stated on the British Library website, in the section entitled "Shakespeare's First Folio." The words "quarto" and "octavo" refer to books with smaller pages because of how many times the sheets of paper were folded. Shakespeare's friends, Condell and Heminges, felt it imperative to create the First Folio. Previous publishings of Shakespeare's plays were filled with "diverse, stolen and surreptitious copies, maimed, and deformed by the frauds and stealths of injurious impostors," as stated on the British Library website. The publishing of the First Folio did not come quickly; after all, thirty-six plays to be printed on large sheets of paper was not an easy task, as explained by Marchette Chute in the book Shakespeare of London. Unaquainted to the printing buisness, Condell and Heminges had not anticipated the difficulty of even finding a publisher (Chute 329). After years of dogged determination and high costs, the First Folio was finally published by the end of 1623 (Chute 125). The Folios originally sold for one pound, as stated on the British Library website, in the section entitled "Shakepeare's First Folio." [|Click here to learn more about First Folios when they were new.]

Today, the United States' very own Folger Shakespeare Library holds the largest collection of First Folios in the world, as stated on the Folger Shakespeare Library website, on the web page entitled "The First Folio." With 79 copies, the Folger Shakespeare Library holds almost one third of all the currently existing First Folios. This collection was amassed through relentless work and persistence by the Folger family. The folios, along with other works, were collected as part of the Warwick Castle Library between 1852 and 1870 with help from J. O. Hallwell-Phillips, a fellow Shakespeare collector. [|Click here to learn more about how Henry Folger attained his collection of First Folios.]



Copies of the First Folio not in the Folger Shakespeare library can be found in various places about the world. The two other leading collections, (far behind the Folger Shakespeare Library's) can be found in the British Library or the Meisei University in Tokyo. Meisei University holds twelve copies, while the British Library holds eight. The rest of the 238 copies are scattered amongst other universities and libraries throughout the world.


 * Works Cited **

Chrisp, Peter. //Shakespeare//. 1st ed. New York, NY: DK Publishing, Inc., 2002. Print.

Chute, Marchette. //Shakespeare of London//. 6th ed. New York, NY: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1949. Print. "Shakespeare's First Folio." //British Library//. British Library, n.d. Web. 29 Mar 2010. < [] >. "The First-Folio."//Folger Shakespeare Library.//Folger Shakespeare Library, n.d. Web. 4 Apr 2010. < [] >.