This, the first edition of the collected plays of William Shakespeare, is commonly known as the First Folio. Printed in London and issued in 1623 by Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, the First Folio contains 36 plays, 18 of which had never before appeared in print, including Macbeth, The Tempest, and Julius Caesar. Before the First Folio, a number of Shakespeare's plays had been published in various smaller formats that frequently contained significant textual divergences between editions.

The front matter contains commendatory verses and epistles dedicatory from contemporaries and admirers of Shakespeare, including Ben Jonson, James Mabbe, and Leonard Digges.

Signatures: [superscript pi]A⁶([superscript pi]A1+1,[superscript pi]A5+1.2) A-2B⁶ 2C²; a-g⁶ [superscript chi]2g⁸ h-v⁶ x⁴; '2g3.4'(±'2g3') ¶-2¶⁶ 3¶1 2a-2f⁶ 2g² 2G⁶ 2h⁶ 2k-3b⁶.

Errors in pagination: (comedies) 50 labeled as 58, 59 labeled as 51, 86 as 88, 153 as 151, 161 as 163, 164 as 162, 165 as 163, 189 as 187, 204 as 194, 249 as 251, 250 as 252, and 265 as 273; (histories) 89 labeled as 91, 90 as 92, 165 as 167, 166 as 168, and 216 as 218; (tragedies) 77-80 labeled as 79-82, 279 as 259, 308 as 38, 379 as 389, and 399 as 993

Numerous leaves missigned, all corresponding to those described by Hinman in The Printing and Proofreading of the First Folio of Shakespeare (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963), pp. 32-33

Colophon: Printed at the charges of W. Jaggard, Ed. Blount, I. Smitheweeke, and W. Aspley, 1623

Title page vignette (Droeshout portrait); head-and tailpieces; initials

Boston Public Library. Barton collection catalogue, Shakespeare, page 1

English short title catalogue, entry S111228

Greg, W.W. Bibliography of the English printed drama to the Restoration, vol. III, page 1109

Carl H. Pforzheimer Library, entry 905

Pollard, A.W. Short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland & Ireland and of English books printed abroad, 1475-1640 (2nd ed.) entry 22273

Shakespeare first folios: a descriptive catalogue, entry W150, (i.e. West 150)

Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) copy G.174.1 bound at the workshop of Charles Lewis in red goatskin paneled in gilt with a border of floral tools. Spine paneled and tooled in gilt with two black leather labels. All text block edges gilt. Armorial bookplate of the Barton Library on front pastedown. This copy of the First Folio purchased by Thomas Pennant Barton from Thomas Rodd, of London, in 1845. Housed in a black cloth box with a vellum spine and a black leather label.

Condition: first two leaves, containing the Jonson verses and the title page, reattached, with fore-edge losses filled in. The following 18 leaves also reattached: [superscript pi]A2, C1-C6, D1, F1, Y2 (or Y5), 2¶5, 2¶6, 3¶1, and 2a1-2a6. Leaves Y2 and Y5 both watermarked, indicating that they are not conjugates. Sheet R1.6 (with R1 missigned R2) is uncorrected, with corrected leaves from another copy or copies bound-in directly after each corresponding leaf. Additional inconsistencies in staining, tears, and general wear within certain plays and even single gatherings suggest that numerous leaves were supplied from another copy or copies.

Inscriptions, annotations, marginalia, corrections, etc., present on numerous leaves, including: [superscript pi]A1 recto, B2 recto, B6 verso, D1 verso, Y4 verso, Y5 verso, Z1 recto, Z2 recto, d2 verso, d3 verso, f4 recto, [superscript chi]2g1 recto (pen trials), k1 verso, k2 recto, l3 recto, l4 verso, s5 verso, s6 verso , v1 recto, 2d6 verso, 2f1 verso, 2g1 recto, 2l2 verso, 2n1 verso, 2o1 recto, 2p5 verso, and 2s6 verso.

For Thomas Pennant Barton's own description of this copy as it appeared ca. 1860 or earlier, see: Barton, Thomas Pennant. "Description of a copy of the first folio edition of the plays of William Shakespeare now in the collection of T.P. Barton." (New York: Privately printed, 1860). For a description of the work done to perfect this copy, see Thomas Rodd's letter to Thomas Pennant Barton, 1845 October 13 (BPL MS f G.52.9 v.3 pt.1 (50))

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