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The First Folio of Shakespeare

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This booklet was produced to accompany an exhibit at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC in 1991. The author, Peter W. M. Blayney, is one of the leading experts on printing in Shakespeare's time and approaches this subject, the 1623 First Folio of Shakespeare's plays, with perhaps unparalleled authority. Blayney wrote an astoundingly detailed study of the first printing of King Lear (1608), and also wrote the new introduction to the revised Norton facsimile edition of the First Folio edited by Charlton Hinman. In this exhibit Blayney used the Folger collection of about 80 copies of the First Folio, approximately one-third of all known copies, to illustrate the trade of book making in early 17th century London and to demonstrate the advantages of having so many copies of a much sought-after book in one collection. In addition to 13 complete copies of the First Folio, the Folger collection includes copies that are missing pages, usually at the front or back--books were typically sold without covers and purchasers then took them to a binder if they could afford the expense and thought it worthwhile (plays were less well regarded at the time than, say, sermons). The collection also includes a number of loose pages from copies that were cannibalized for pages missing from other copies. A few pages in the collection contain editorial marks by print shop proof-readers.

This catalogue describes Henry Folger's collecting and his conviction that multiple copies would yield insights into printing practices of Shakespeare's time as well as evidence that might help scholars get closer to the original words Shakespeare wrote. The First Folio is the sole authority for half of Shakespeare's plays. Blayney's catalogue runs to 46 pages with text aimed at the general educated reader and many illustrations showing how scholars use forensic evidence to reconstruct the making of this most famous of English books after the 1611 King James Bible. Blayney recounts the progress of scholars in determining how many compositors (type-setters) worked on the large book (each page measured approximately 9 x 14 inches before binding and trimming); what degree of proof-reading was done; how the printer's type was "composed" on a stick by hand choosing letters from the upper and lower type cases to spell out, one letter at a time, the words in whatever copy, whether print or manuscript, was in front of them; and the resulting problems of typos, misreadings, and missing words and lines that have bedeviled Shakespeare's editors ever since.

Blayney also explains how printers worked at the time, often interrupting work on one book to do more routine presswork like circulars, proclamations, and forms for customers. Scholars like Blayney have learned by examining copies of books for damaged letters and printer's ornaments that the print shop that produced the First Folio worked on other books during the same period it was printing the First Folio. Occasionally the type-setters over- or under-estimated the amount of space a section of one of the plays would occupy when set in print, resulting in more or less "white space" on a page and some incredibly crowded pages of print. Blayney's text and illustrations make these points about the practical challenges of the printing business extremely well. This book is well worth acquiring if you are interested in how we got the text of Shakespeare plays that are now found everywhere and are translated into many other languages around the world. Although Amazon.com is sometimes out of stock on this book, you can order it directly from the Folger Shakespeare Library website at the list price plus postage and handling.

This well-illustrated booklet, published by the Folger Library, is a must if you love Shakespeare and/or love old books. Mr. Blayney tells us much about the history - including the techniques - of printing, publishing and selling the First Folio. He explains, for example, why there are different versions of the Folio, and why an apprentice type-setter was probably responsible for so many of the book's mistakes. It is fascinating to see Mr. Blayney's evidence right in front of my eyes.

So for me this booklet is full of surprises, like the fact that most Folios were sold without bindings.

I wish, only, The First Folio of Shakespeare was longer. I want to know even more!