First Folio of Shakespeare (The Norton Facsimile) [Hardcover]

William Shakespeare (Author), Charlton Hinman (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1968

One of the essential books of English literature and culture, the justly famous First Folio of Shakespeare's plays, a full-size photographic facsimile that has won the admiration of actors and scholars throughout the world.

When it was published in 1968, The Norton Facsimile set a new standard for scholarly accuracy. It was the first facsimile in which every page had been selected from a large number of copies in an attempt to find a clean, clear example with minimal show-through. Even more important, it offered the latest, most corrected state of pages known to vary from copy to copy because of correction at press. Finally, it introduced a standard system of reference, "through line numbering," based on the lines printed in the 1623 edition rather than on the acts, scenes, and lines of a modern edition. These improvements, the meticulous work of the great Folio scholar Charlton Hinman made possible by the extensive Folger Library Collection, established The Norton Facsimile as an indispensable volume for book collectors and serious readers of Shakespeare.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Charlton Hinman's facsimile of Shakespeare's First Folio was a colossal achievement when it was first published in 1968, and its reputation is further enhanced by this beautiful second edition. Looking for a way to provide scholars with a reliable version of Shakespeare's text, Hinman invented a device that sped up the collation process, allowing him to compare 82 of the surviving copies of the Folio and bring to light features of Shakespeare's work that have been--and continue to be--edited out of most modern editions. A Midsummer Night's Dream, for example, contains what are known as false starts, fragments of earlier versions of certain speeches. These traces of the composition process survive only because the printers, working directly from Shakespeare's handwritten copy, were not given a chance to thoroughly proofread their work. Though they would make crucial changes during the printing process, it was too wasteful to throw away pages that were already printed. Thus, when they went to bind the Folios, each book contained a fascinating patchwork of corrected and uncorrected copy.

Also hidden beneath the familiar text of the plays is a portrait of the printers who created the book. Their names remain unknown, but Professor Hinman was able to track individuals' work by examining their spelling habits. Their story is as important to this book as the works of literature that it contains. The many errors the printers introduced into the text of Shakespeare's work still provide fertile ground for theatrical and academic debate. Hamlet, for example, wishes that his "too, too solid flesh would melt."--or is it his "sullied" flesh, or perhaps his "sallied" flesh? Which is Shakespeare, and which is an error? We cannot blame the printers; they spent long hours setting page after page of tiny type, working in a cramped space that smelled strongly of the stale urine they used to soften the inking pads. It is ironic that the most revered symbol of English high culture owes its existence--in part, at least--to the productive bladders of a handful of pressmen. This book gives these men their due, demonstrating the extent to which Shakespeare's plays were the work not just of one man but of a whole society. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

The late Charlton Hinman was the editor of the Shakespeare Quarto Facsimiles and professor of English at the University of Kansas. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 928 pages
• Publisher: Norton (January 1, 1968)
• ISBN-10: 0039304142
• ISBN-13: 978-0393041316
• ASIN: 039304131X
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,747,007 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564, and his birth is traditionally celebrated on April 23. The facts of his life, known from surviving documents, are sparse. He was one of eight children born to John Shakespeare, a merchant of some standing in his community. William probably went to the King's New School in Stratford, but he had no university education. In November 1582, at the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior, who was pregnant with their first child, Susanna. She was born on May 26, 1583. Twins, a boy, Hamnet ( who would die at age eleven), and a girl, Judith, were born in 1585. By 1592 Shakespeare had gone to London working as an actor and already known as a playwright. A rival dramatist, Robert Greene, referred to him as "an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers." Shakespeare became a principal shareholder and playwright of the successful acting troupe, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later under James I, called the King's Men). In 1599 the Lord Chamberlain's Men built and occupied the Globe Theater in Southwark near the Thames River. Here many of Shakespeare's plays were performed by the most famous actors of his time, including Richard Burbage, Will Kempe, and Robert Armin. In addition to his 37 plays, Shakespeare had a hand in others, including Sir Thomas More and The Two Noble Kinsmen, and he wrote poems, including Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. His 154 sonnets were published, probably without his authorization, in 1609. In 1611 or 1612 he gave up his lodgings in London and devoted more and more time to retirement in Stratford, though he continued writing such plays as The Tempest and Henry VII until about 1613. He died on April 23 1616, and was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford. No collected edition of his plays was published during his life-time, but in 1623 two members of his acting company, John Heminges and Henry Condell, put together the great collection now called the First Folio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shakespeare for Shakespeare lovers, March 30, 2006

By 

Amazonian (San Francisco<P>San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The First Folio of Shakespeare: The Norton Facsimile (Hardcover)

Compiled from the best extant leaves of Shakespeare's First Folio, this edition is a labor of love. The binding and slipcover are more impressive in the Norton's first edition, but the pages within contain Shakespeare in a way that's rare today: unedited, giving a real sense of Elizabethan and Jacobean times.

Of course, the absence of footnotes or explanatory text places the burden on the reader, and it's likely you'll want to have some supplementary materials handy in case a particularly obscure turn of phrase arises. On the other hand, the remarkable introduction by the late Charleton Hinman provides a remarkable glimpse into the history of the First Folio, and is essential reading in itself.

It does not, of course, contain all of Shakespeare's plays, as scholarship has enlarged his ouevre over time; but just about everything is here.

A huge volume (14 inches high by 9 inches deep and over 3 inches thick), this is the ultimate coffee table book - in itself, an suggestion of period bookcraft. If you have the space, and can do a healthy bench press, this is the kind of educational experience that you could spend a lifetime poring over.

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The premium facsimile of the celebrated First Folio, July 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The First Folio of Shakespeare: The Norton Facsimile (Hardcover)

This is a superb book in every way: fine scholarship, painstaking reproduction, beautiful presentation. Nothing else is in the class of the Norton First Folio facsimile. To those who may look askance at the price, I can only say the book is worth every penny. What Heminge and Condell said in "To the great Variety of Readers" about the original Folio is equally applicable to this reproduction: "Iudge your sixe-pen'orth, your shillings worth, your fiue shillings worth at a time, or higher, so you rise to the iust rates, and welcome. But, what euer you do, Buy."

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, November 19, 2006

By 

RS "RS" (playshakespeare.com) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The First Folio of Shakespeare: The Norton Facsimile (Hardcover)

The best resource of it's kind for anyone interested in getting back to the "roots" of Shakespeare. If Amazon allowed half stars, I'd take off half a star for it's price. It's too expensive to be accessible to students, the people who could get the most usage and benefit out of this fantastic book.