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Emma Smith

The Making of Shakespeare's First Folio Hardcover – March 15, 2016

by Emma Smith (Author)

18 ratings

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Shakespeare is synonymous with English literature. Well-loved the world over, his work endures for its ability to speak powerfully to the follies and foibles of human nature. We endlessly debate not only the finer points of each of his plays and sonnets but also the identity of the Bard himself. Yet no fanfare surrounded the initial publication of Shakespeare’s First Folio—no queue of eager readers, no launch to the top of the best seller list. It wasn’t until four hundred years after Shakespeare’s death that the book would be the subject of a national book tour.

The Making of Shakespeare’s First Folio offers the first comprehensive biography of the earliest collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays. In November 1623, the book arrived in the bookshop of the London publisher Edward Blount at the Black Bear. Long in the making, Master William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies—as the First Folio was then known—appeared seven years after Shakespeare’s death. Nearly one thousand pages in length, the collection comprised thirty-six plays, half of which had never been previously published. Emma Smith tells the story of the First Folio’s origins, locating it within the social and political context of Jacobean London and bringing in the latest scholarship on the seventeenth-century book trade.

Extensively illustrated, The Making of Shakespeare’s First Folio is a landmark addition to the copious literature on Shakespeare. It will shed much-needed light on the birth of the First Folio—of which fewer than 250 copies remain—and the birth of Shakespeare’s towering reputation.

Print length

208 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
Publication date

March 15, 2016
Dimensions

6 x 1 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1851244425
ISBN-13

978-1851244423
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“The Bodleian Library’s The Making of Shakespeare’s First Folio . . . [is] full of admirable detail and scholarship, but what we want most of all is to see Shakespeare that feels new and fresh. This kind of performance does just that.”

― Independent Published On: 2015-12-17

"With its beautiful illustrations and intriguing background covering aspects of early modern life, this is just the thing for Bard lovers looking to fill in some of the blanks related to the book that gave us Shakespeare."

― Library Journal Published On: 2016-04-25

“Smith’s close reading of Shakespeare’s First Folio reveals a trove of information.”

― Maclean's Published On: 2016-04-25

“The Making of Shakespeare’s First Folio . . . is appropriately published by the Bodleian Library, where Professor Smith played a main part in the ‘Sprint for Shakespeare’ campaign to stabilize and digitize their copy, which has supplied many of the book’s rather sepia-coloured images . . . . This is a clearly written account of the main issues in its printing and publication, drawing on the standard authorities.”

― Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

Emma Smith is a fellow in English at Hertford College, University of Oxford. She is the author of several books, including, most recently, The Cambridge Shakespeare Guide and The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Tragedy.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bodleian Library, University of Oxford (March 15, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1851244425
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1851244423
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #851,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #320 in Shakespeare Literary Criticism
- #1,406 in British & Irish Literary Criticism (Books)
- #2,743 in Book Publishing Reference

Customer Reviews:
18 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		77%
4 star		16%
3 star 0% (0%)		0%
2 star		7%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Craig Cowing

A delight for nerds!

Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2019

Verified Purchase

This rather brief book is a feast for those who want nerdy details about actors, productions, and how things got done. Highly recommended!

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Jack M. Kamen

If you like reading Shakespeare

Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2016

Verified Purchase

Learned many intriguing aspects of the publishing of the first folio.
If you like reading Shakespeare, you'll love reading this.

6 people found this helpful

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Daniel W. Rasmus

Good insights for Shakespeare fans, but redundancies stretch scant material

Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2016

It's nonfiction so the "plot" analysis doesn't apply. Some redundancies fill out the rather thin volume of First Folio insights. Shakespeare fans will find it interesting. Needs a Kindle version.

One person found this helpful

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Elizabeth

Recommended academic book

Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2016

Emma Smith knows a lot about Shakespeare and this book is recommended for learning more about the First Folio and its history.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

paul callick

good quality

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 15, 2021

Verified Purchase

a well-made paperback, in fairly battered condition. Since it's by Emma Smith it should be a great read!

hatty burrow

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 29, 2017

Verified Purchase

Great

Captaingra

So good I read it twice!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 30, 2017

Verified Purchase

Wanting to know more about the first folio, I thoroughly enjoyed this book so much, I read it twice.

One person found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on October 16, 2017

Verified Purchase

My favourite of the two volumes; meticulously researched, concisely presented, like notes of a graduate seminar perhaps.

Mr Benson

Worse than this

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 23, 2016

Verified Purchase

"For ease of analysis, let's split Shakespeare's writing career into two approximate halves," writes Smith: an extraordinary action for the most dubious of motives. Worse than this, she is still trapped in a vision of English literature as social history and, with Shakespeare, trapped by having to admit that everything is possible and we just cannot know anything for certain. 'Perhaps', 'speculate', 'if indeed he did', 'it's sometimes suggested', 'it may be that', 'may have been published': such uncertainty allows Smith to ride her hobby-horse and try to reduce Shakespeare to a matter of economics. She forges on relentlessly, insisting, "We need to...assess his print profitability for the Folio's publishers-investors." As a modern text might say: FFS!

13 people found this helpful

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